Try Me
by herpaderpproductions
Summary: Kyoko is offered a new role in a prestigious movie, but there's one not-so-small aspect of the role she isn't entirely comfortable with. In an attempt to get more comfortable with that aspect, she asks Julie for help, but is Julie really helping Kyoko with the role, or trying to instill a little romance in her childrens' lives?
1. Prologue

**Try Me**

 **A/N:** This is what happens when I spend way too much time commuting with way too little to do during that commute and my mind wanders. I hope you enjoy.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Skip Beat

* * *

 **Prologue**

"Mogami-kun, it seems your role as Natsu has opened new doors for you."

Kyoko sat still, watching the president nervously.

"It seems that all of these roles are very mature, so I would like you to be prepared for that, even if you won't be able to even begin working on a role like that until you turn 18. So far I've turned down the roles they offered because of your age, but considering your birthday is coming soon that excuse will no longer stand. While you may be scared, these roles will help to advance your career in new directions and offer you opportunities to win critical acclaim as an actress, so I would like you to consider them. A few are even against the bully type you've been cast as in the past."

Kyoko nodded, suddenly compelled to stare nervously at her feet.

* * *

"Are you sure she's a good choice, Director Konoe? I haven't heard of her at all, and she's not even eighteen yet."

"I assure you, she is a true professional."

"Yes, well, I already had another actress, one who I know can play this role, in mind for the part. Why should I consider your suggestion?"

"Because she is the perfect person for the part."

"But can she pull off a role like this?"

"I would be surprised if she couldn't. I'm sure with her talent she could be the top actress in Japan soon."

"You've never directed her, though, even off screen."

"No, I haven't. Perhaps you need to see the role she was playing for me?"

"Perhaps."

"Let me call Lory-san to see if he can arrange anything. Are you free the night of the premiere of Tragic Marker?"

* * *

 **A/N:** The end! (Of the prologue)


	2. The Role

**A/N:** I figured I'd post this with the prologue since that was so short. Also, due to my busy schedule, I won't be able to update frequently, so I might as well let everyone know what's going on instead of leaving you hanging. Trying my best to keep everyone in character, but you know how that goes.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Skip Beat

* * *

 **The Role**

Kyoko felt like she'd been sitting in the chair for a long time. Although Jelly was usually incredibly fast at getting Kyoko ready to play Setsuka, today the process was going slowly. That left her more time to dread the speech Lory had given her the day before. She assumed that He was concerned about her playing mature roles because she hadn't graduated Love Me and hadn't debuted. How could a newbie actress commit to a full time role? And when she turned 18 she would be required to work longer hours.

"You're all done, Kyoko!" Jelly handed her a suspiciously light dress bag. As she headed out the door, Jelly winked. "You know what to do now."

Kyoko opened the bag, dreading what she would find inside: a slinky red dress of the variety that was so skimpy no bra could be worn and Setsu's maneater panties were her only option. She sighed and slipped into the dress, careful to not ruin her hair or make-up.

When she left the room, she was greeted by a somewhat unusually nice-looking Cain Heel. He grabbed her arm and led her to the awaiting limo. While Setsu was comfortable with her attire, Kyoko was trying hard not to blush, especially when she caught Ren (not Cain) giving her a good look.

The premiere went as to be expected, with Cain and Setsu separated from the cast. Both refused interviews with the press on their way in, watched the movie, and prepared to head back to Lory's. Neither realized they were in for a long night.

"Ah, Cain, Setsu- aren't you going to the cast party?" Director Konoe asked them. Murasame huffed in their direction, probably hoping they would go home.

"We have an early flight tomorrow, so Nii-san and I were hoping to go to bed early," Setsu explained.

"That's too bad. I believe Lory-san said he was expecting to have you picked up from the party," Konoe replied.

Ren and Kyoko quickly dropped character to stare at each other in surprise. "Then I guess we'll have to go," Setsu told him.

The party was easy enough to act out – they were comfortable with their co-stars at this point – but it was getting harder to deal with everyone as the alcohol began to flow. Kyoko, being cautious of the drinking age, had decided against drinking alcohol despite the fact that she assumed Setsu would be the type to drink. Luckily Cain was being protective of his sister and had stolen the shot of brandy she'd been given by Murasame. With an angry glare at the man, Cain took the shot in one go and refused a chaser. It was only the first shot of the night for Cain, whose alcohol intake was being carefully controlled by Setsu.

Out of nowhere, Director Konoe appeared. "Setsu-chan, can you come with me?"

"I'd prefer not to leave Nii-san here to his own devices," Setsu protested.

"He can wait in the hall for you if he likes."

"As long as he doesn't get anything else to drink."

Cain grunted, as if to agree that he'd control himself. Ren was more concerned with what was happened. Director Konoe was a good man, but he couldn't stand to be separated from Kyoko when Murasame had an obvious boner for her. Especially when she was wearing such a scandalous dress.

"I'll be back soon then, Nii-san," Setsu said cheerfully. She pulled him into an embrace and caressed his face to reassure him. She turned around and followed a now blushing Director Konoe out.

Kyoko followed the Director into a small conference room near where the party was still raging. He closed the door behind her. She felt relaxed until she noticed another man in the room – one she didn't recognize.

"Ah, Kyoko-chan. It's okay to drop character. He knows who you are." Director Konoe gestured towards the older man sitting at the conference table. "This is my mentor as a director, Director Ueda."

The name immediately registered with Kyoko. This was a man who had own numerous filmmaking awards in Japan and at festivals around the world. He had even gotten two Academy Award nominations in the US. She remembered her manners and immediately bowed as low as she was capable of to indicate her respect.

"I- It's a pleasure to meet you, Ueda-sensei!"

He gave her a stern look. "So this is the actress?"

"Y- yes, Ueda-sensei," Konoe said. He was nervous that his recommendation had been a bad one.

"From what I've seen tonight and from watching her past works, it appears your assessment is correct – she would be a good choice for the role," Director Ueda replied. "Of course because of her age, I'm going to have to push back filming to January, but that may benefit the film in another way."

Director Konoe cocked his head.

"The man I need to be my male lead is booked through December. I thought he would be unable to play the role due to scheduling conflicts, but if we move it to January, we should be able to make it work."

Kyoko was confused. "A- a role?"

"I would like to offer you the lead role in my new film. From your performance as Setsuka Heel tonight and your past role as Mio, it appears you have the necessary talent and are comfortable with difficult work. It is a very difficult role, but I believe you'll be able to meet my standards."

"T- thank you," Kyoko gasped. It wasn't exactly praise, but being offered a lead role in a film from such a prestigious director was an honor. She worried that her name wouldn't be good enough for such a high quality production, but she would feel bad to turn down a famous director who had specifically chosen her for a part. Still, she would have to think it over.

"I've already sent the paperwork to LME so that you can sign it tomorrow and they can add this to your schedule," Director Ueda stated. He turned to Director Konoe, "Now that that's settled, can you go get Cain for me?"

Sure enough, as soon as Kyoko returned to the party, she watched Ren get dragged away to the back conference room.

"It's a pleasure to see you again, Director Ueda," Ren said with his best polite smile.

"About that movie I asked you to star in, Ren-kun," the director replied. "Due to the age of our new lead actress, filming will not be able to begin until January. I believe that will work with your schedule?"

Ren nodded. "You will have to confirm that with LME, but I believe that is the case. If it is, I would be honored to have a part in this project." He knew he couldn't turn down such an esteemed director. If the movie was good enough (as it had appeared when he saw the first draft of the script), he might even be headed for screenings at places where he could network with international casting directors. Then again, with Kyoko in Japan, he wasn't so sure about his dream to return to Hollywood any more. Still, this was a chance he couldn't pass up.

"I would be happy to have you," Director Ueda replied.

"Is there any reason the lead actress's age matters?" Ren asked. He was worried it was Kyoko, particularly since he was familiar with the Hollywood reason for why a movie would need an actress to be eighteen or older.

"I wasn't originally intending to include any love scenes or nudity, but one of the studios that ended up backing the project is an art film company in Hollywood. They expect the movie to be up for and win awards, and therefore they expect at least one love scene. For whatever reason, Westerners don't like to give awards to movies that aren't gratuitous in that aspect," Director Ueda explained. "But because I have to do it, I'll make it as tasteful as possible."

Ren froze. He hadn't hoped to do one of those scenes, and he would never want Kyoko to have to participate in such a scene. Still, it was better that the scene was with him than someone else. His mind was racing, trying to figure out what to do.

"Ren? If you would sign these papers, please. The necessary people at LME have already signed everything, so all we need is you," Director Ueda said.

Ren grabbed the pen off the table, signed his name quickly, and left the room. One or two scenes weren't going to stop him from such a great opportunity, and if Kyoko was in it he could then protect her from the hands of whatever actor they wanted to cast as his replacement.

* * *

On the way home, Kyoko and Ren sat in the back of Lory's limo. Both were exhausted from what had ended up being a wild party, even if they weren't involved in any of the more wild aspects. The hardest part had been keeping Murasame away from Kyoko.

"Mogami-san?"

"Tsuruga-san?" Kyoko asked, wondering if he had shifted out of his role as Cain Heel for the last time.

"Did Director Ueda ask you about playing a role in his latest movie?"

Kyoko's face shined with pride for a second before a blush formed and she was forced to look at her lap. "Yes. Though I'm wondering if I should do it. Surely such a prestigious director wouldn't use such a newbie to lead their new project."

"Of course he would," Ren encouraged, "He sees that you have the ability to play the character how he wants her to be."

"Did he offer you a part, then?"

"Yes. I'll be the male lead."

"R- really?" Kyoko turned to look at him. "So you're doing it?"

"It will be difficult, but I know it will be a good opportunity to expand my skills as an actor," Ren said.

"I couldn't possibly act with you. You're much too good for me."

"No, I'm not. You did a great job as Setsu. I'm sure you will be able to play the part well." Ren couldn't believe that he was encouraging Kyoko to take a part that would likely involve her being naked on screen. Then again, him with a naked Kyoko, especially if she sought advice for the scene from him… He tried to purge his head of those thoughts.

"We've arrived! Jelly is inside waiting for you," Sebastian called from the front seat, ending their conversation.

* * *

After school the next day, Kyoko went to LME to sign whatever paperwork had been left for her by Director Ueda. Overnight she had considered Ren's words. After a cooling off period, she realized that he was correct: this would be a great opportunity if she could do a good job. She also felt like she would be letting down Kuu if she didn't take the role.

So here she was, standing in front of Sawara's desk waiting for him to fetch the paperwork from a printer.

"Mogami-san," he said. "Did the director talk to you about what this would entail?"

"No."

"Ah, well, you have to be eighteen before filming starts, so there is likely some inappropriate scenes that you'll need to participate in," Sawara explained.

Kyoko's eyes widened in surprise. Suddenly she wasn't sure she wanted the role any more. How could she do _that_ on screen? She was a virgin! Still, she knew Kuu would encourage her to take any challenge head-on. And if the other lead was Ren, it wouldn't be too bad, she thought. Then, she realized that having a scene like that with Ren might bring her true feelings out at an entirely inopportune and embarrassing time. Still, she knew if she was to be Japan's top actress, this would be a necessary step. Not to mention Japan's top actress would probably have to do these scenes during her career. She might as well get the love scene for her career over with, and with a man she was somewhat comfortable with.

"Do you need more time to consider this?"

"No. I'll do it," Kyoko said. She reached for a pen on Sawara's desk and began to sign the paperwork.

"Are you sure?"

"It will be a great opportunity," Kyoko replied with a flat affect. She put the pen down, indicating she was done, thanked Sawara, and went to the Love Me room.

As soon as she set her bag down, Kyoko put her head in her hands and freaked out, wondering what she had done. How would she even prepare for a scene like that?

* * *

 **A/N:** Chapter finished! Please R &R.


	3. The Advice

**Try Me**

 **A/N:** Chapter 2 is here! Again, updates will be slow, but like all my other stories, it will be finished eventually.

I'm surprised how many reviews I have in other languages. Unfortunately I don't speak anything other than English. I should really get on that…

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Skip Beat

* * *

 **The Advice**

Kyoko sat on her futon at the Darumaya. She would need to call someone, but it couldn't be Kuu. There's no way he'd approve of her in such a lewd scene. Ren was out of the question. That left Kanae. She dialed her friend's number, hoping she would pick up.

"Hello?"

"Moko," Kyoko whined into her phone. "Can you give me advice?"

"About what?"

"I just accepted a role in a new movie, and I need advice."

"Can't you ask Tsuruga-san?"

"N- no! No, I can't."

"Why not?"

"I- it's about a scene," Kyoko replied. She wasn't sure how much she could tell her friend, so she didn't mention that Ren was her likely costar in the scene she was worried about.

"What kind of scene could you not get help from Tsuruga-san about? Even then, couldn't you get Hizuri-san to help you?"

"B- because… Well," Kyoko mumbled.

"Just tell me," Kanae insisted, growing impatient.

"It's a love scene."

Kanae didn't respond, leaving Kyoko to worry about what she was thinking. "Mo- I can't help you with that! I've never done one. Why'd you agree to do that anyways?"

"I don't know. The director and my costar are amazing, but I didn't think it through. I just signed."

"Well, if the director's top notch, it's probably worth the risk," Kanae said. "Maybe Hizuri-san could help you?"  
"There's no way I'd tell him," Kyoko insisted.

"No, not Hizuri Kuu-san, Hizuri Julie-san," Moko corrected. "She's a model – she's had to have had experience in that sort of scene on camera."

"Models don't do love scenes, Moko."

"But they do pose naked in risqué positions with male models," Kanae reminded her.

"Maybe I'll call her. Thanks, Moko," Kyoko said.

After their goodbyes, Kyoko sighed. She hadn't talked to Julie much – in fact, she'd only ever talked to her once, and that was during a call with Kuu. It would be hard to talk to her about this. After about an hour of staring at Julie's number in her phone, she finally decided to wait until the next morning. She didn't have to be at LME until noon, so she was planning to study for her exams, but this somehow seemed more urgent.

* * *

Kyoko heard the phone ringing, dreading the moment it was picked up. Thankfully she got to voicemail, but didn't leave a message. Unfortunately, Julie called back almost immediately.

"Kyoko?" A beautiful voice asked through the phone. Kyoko was already slightly intimidated by the woman her "father" so admired.

"Y- yes! Hello, Mrs. Hizuri," Kyoko said in her best English.

"Please, call me Mom! You already call Kuu Dad," Julie requested. "I'm so happy to hear from you! This is the first time you've ever called me."

"It's nice to meet you," Kyoko responded instinctively.

"Well, you won't meet me until you visit us in America. Are you calling to arrange that?"

"I couldn't do that to you," Kyoko said.

"Why not? I'm very excited to meet you. I almost asked Kuu to bring you home with him last time he went to Japan," Julie assured her.

Kyoko tried to remember her best manners to carry on the conversation. She couldn't tell Julie the actual reason she'd called. "How have you been?"

That saved Kyoko from stating her reason for calling for a good half an hour as Julie regaled her with the latest Hollywood gossip and who she had been designing for. Kyoko's reply to Julie, explaining how she'd been, took only a minute. Then, came the question. "So why did you call?"

"I- I just wanted to talk."

"You haven't called me before to talk, but you call Kuu all the time for help. Do you need help with something you couldn't ask Kuu about?"

Julie, as perceptive as Kuu had bragged she was, knew what was happening. "Well, I got a new role in a movie."

"Oh really? Who's the director? The costar?" Julie purred into the phone.

"Director Ueda is the director. My costar is Mr. Tsuruga," Kyoko whispered. She swore she heard Julie gasp and let out a noise of delight on the other end of the line.

"That's what this is about! You like him, right? He's a great costar, and I'm sure you'll be just as great."

"W- well, that's not it."

"If you need acting advice, why don't you ask Kuu? I've only been in a few things, and they were all terrible! He'd be the one to ask," Julie told Kyoko. "Unless…"

Kyoko was terrified. Julie had figured it out. She wondered if she should just hang up now, but she couldn't.

"You have a sex scene with him, don't you?"

"Yes," Kyoko confirmed.

"I can't believe they're making you do that! You're only 17 right now!"

"They're waiting to start filming until after my birthday."

"They must really want you for the part then," Julie reminded Kyoko. "So I'm sure they know you can do this."

"No I can't," Kyoko replied. "I'm a pure Japanese maiden! I've only kissed someone once. There's no way I could be in a room naked with one other person, let alone with a whole camera crew acting out such a lewd thing!"

"Well, Ren should help. He's a gentleman." She added in a soft grumble, "Unlike some of my costars."

"But how can I act that kind of scene out?"

"You could practice," Julie suggested.

"I'm not having sex with Mr. Tsuruga," Kyoko squealed in embarrassment.

"Not like that." 'Though someday,' Julie thought. "Practice being comfortable with your body around him. You don't need to have sex, only be naked in front of a few crew members for a few minutes."

"How?"

"Well, by my first time I was naked on camera, I was hardly a virgin, so I wasn't as shy, but I was just as nervous. Before the shoot I just hosted naked parties at my apartment with friends to get comfortable. That made it a whole lot easier," Julie explained.

"I can't do that! Well, maybe with Moko, but we've already been to a bath together."

"I mean with Ren. You could get used to being naked around him and seeing him naked," Julie suggested. "Since you're doing the scene with him, you won't be nearly as nervous if you feel that comfortable around him."

"I-" Kyoko started to protest, but then realized Julie was probably giving her the only advice she would receive to make the experience less miserable.

"Maybe if you're not comfortable with that, you could start by wearing robes together around his apartment. On set for that sort of scene, you're wearing robes unless the cameras are rolling," Julie told Kyoko. "So you could practice that."

"That sounds better than being entirely naked," Kyoko admitted.

"But because you'll still have to be naked together, you should still practice that aspect before the shot," Julie insisted. "Even if you don't rush it."

"I guess," Kyoko agreed.

"I'm sure he'll be good about it," Julie said, struggling to keep that Ren loved Kyoko from the girl. "He wouldn't hurt you."

"B- but, there's one more problem," Kyoko said. "I don't know how to have sex. Well, I know the theory behind it, but not how it should look on screen."

"Well, don't watch porn to figure it out," Julie laughed. "Maybe you should watch some other famous sex scenes from movies? I could text you a list of recommendations."

"S- sure," Kyoko agreed.

"I'm sure you'll do great, Kyoko," Julie praised her. "You are already a wonderful actress and a wonderful daughter."

"Thank you," was all Kyoko could reply.

"Well, I've got to go," Julie said. "I need to pick up your Father from another one of his jobs. I can't wait to see you at the Grateful Party this year!"

"You're coming?" Kyoko asked.

At that moment, Julie remembered it was supposed to be a surprise, but because she'd already spilled the beans there was no point in denying it. "Of course! But don't tell anyone! We want to surprise Lory."

"You should go then, Mom. Thank you for your advice."

"Of course, Kyoko! Talk to you later. I love you."

The sound of Julie hanging up left Kyoko relieved. Now she had a direction to work in, even if she was incredibly nervous about it. The biggest problem: how was she supposed to approach Ren about this?

* * *

"Kuu," Julie said as soon as he stepped into the car.

"You seem really happy about something," Kuu responded.

"Oh really?" She asked coyly before giving him a gleeful kiss on the lips.

"Kyoko landed a role in a movie," Julie began to explain. "Director Ueda's new movie."

"That's great. Of course she'll be the best part of that movie."

"She and Kuon will be," Julie replied.

"Of course Kuon will be," Kuu said, thinking she was still talking about Kyoko. "Wait… You're talking about Ren, right?"

"He's her costar, and better yet," Julie paused to increase the anticipation.

"Better yet?"

"He's Kyoko's love interest," Julie said. She wouldn't mention the sex scene. Kuu was far too protective of his "daughter" to be excited about that.

"We'll have to see it then."

"Yes we will," Julie told him. "We have to support our children."

* * *

Kyoko sat in the Love Me room, waiting for Kanae to show up so she could ask her friend for advice. Suddenly a knock on the door caused her head to spring up. The door opened up. It was Ren.

* * *

 **A/N:** Ooooh! A cliffhanger. I'll try to update soonish?


	4. The Proposal

**Try Me**

 **A/N:** So… Much… To do…

Your positive reviews are keeping me going on writing this. Homework is really burning me out.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Skip Beat

* * *

 **The Proposal**

Ren had only just met up with Yashiro for the day when his faithful manager dropped the bomb.

"So, it turns out Kyoko-chan did sign on to Ueda-sensei's movie."

Ren flashed him a bright smile. "She did?"

"Yeah. They specifically requested her for the part, so she felt obligated to do it," Yashiro explained.

"Well, she is one to take a challenge," Ren replied. The only thing occupying his mind was the need to meet with her to discuss this. "Will she be in today?"

"I think she's scheduled to be here at noon to work on something for the LoveMe section." It always creeped Ren out that Yashiro knew her exact schedule. Although realistically he knew why his manager was doing it, Ren wondered if Yashiro was a bit too obsessed with Kyoko. Then again, Lory was too. And his father. There were too many people wanting to force the issue between him and Kyoko, at least only one of them were actively doing anything about it. Now he needed to get rid of Yashiro for long enough to meet with Kyoko.

"Yashiro? Would you mind going to sort through my fan mail? I haven't cleaned it out in some time," Ren said with a smile. That should take Yashiro a good two hours. Although Ren appreciated his fans, he hated most of the mail. The only pieces he actually saw were ones from fans who needed the support of their hero (like those who were sick). Most of it was filled with candy he wouldn't eat, gushy love notes, date requests, or in the worst case scenarios nude photos of the fans. For that reason he had Yashiro or whatever poor intern he could get sort out the mail for the one percent of it he actually cared enough about to look at.

"Can't you get someone else to do it?" Yashiro asked.

"I don't believe there's anyone I'd trust to do it like you," Ren replied, flashing a smile brilliant enough to scare away Yashiro, who promptly went off to the acting section to do as he was told.

Ren sauntered off towards the LoveMe room, wondering how to broach the subject of the film with Kyoko. From Yashiro's wording, it sounded like she had signed the contract, so there was no getting out of it on her end. He knew she could do the role, but still wondered if she knew what she was getting into. That was what worried him the most.

Only slightly less of a worry was his ability to play his role. He could do a sex scene with any other actress – it was an inevitability he'd been aware of and mentally preparing for since he was a child – but with Kyoko? That would be difficult. It would be way too embarrassing to go onto set with a boner, not to mention how freaked out Kyoko would be about it. No amount of acting would save him from that.

He stopped in front of the LoveMe locker room, hoping Kyoko would be there, but dreading the conversation he'd be having with her.

Ren took a deep breath, steeling himself before he knocked on the door. There was no response, so he turned the handle to open it. He tried to keep a calm face as he saw her head whip around towards him.

"T- Tsuruga-san!"

"It's nice to see you, Mogami-san."

"Aren't you too busy to come visit me?" Kyoko knew why he was there, but asked anyways.

"I'll always have time to see you, Mogami-san," Ren said. He would've put a smile on his face, but this was not the time to indicate any annoyance or stress to Kyoko.

"Are you sure? I thought you were going to be on a TV show this afternoon."

"That taped yesterday. I have a taping this afternoon for another show, but that's not for a few hours." He moved to sit down next to her. "I heard you signed onto Ueda-san's new movie."

He tried to be delicate, but in this case he was stressed enough to go straight for the kill.

"I did," she replied, trying to keep herself calm.

"Director Ueda did tell you what this entailed, correct?"

Kyoko nodded, keeping her silence.

"What did he tell you?"

"Sawara-san told me that there would probably be a love scene in it," Kyoko replied.

"That's what I've heard as well. Are you sure you're comfortable with that?"

"W- well, I'll have to do one eventually," Kyoko said.

"But are you comfortable now, at this age?"

Kyoko shook her head. "No, but it's better to learn now then later." She wouldn't say it, but she also knew it was better to learn it with Ren than a stranger. "So I'll do it. I can't turn down any challenge right now, particularly one with such a great director and lead actor."

"To be honest, Mogami-san, I'm not entirely comfortable with this either. I don't think any actor truly is. It will be my first scene of that sort as well."

Kyoko looked up at him, surprised. She wondered why she was surprised – maybe because she'd always seen him as a playboy? She knew he had never done a role like that before.

They sat in silence, letting the tension settle in for a bit. Kyoko tried to figure out how she would broach the topic of Julie's advice. With a (very relatively) vulnerable Ren, there was no better time than now.

"Umm, Tsuruga-san?"

"Yes?"

"W- well, I called Hizuri Julie-san to ask her what I should do to prepare for this sort of scene, and she gave me some advice."

"Really?" Ren felt worried. Any advice from his mother was a double-edged sword of useful but suiting her desires. Unfortunately, he didn't know what to expect from her this time: he had no idea what her desire would be for Kyoko in this film would be other than advancing Kyoko's career.

Kyoko gulped, seeing his intense expression. "S- she suggested that we," Kyoko blushed, unable to continue.

"We?" Ren asked. It sounded threatening, he was sure, but it was really a result of his new round of suspicion. If his mother had heard about Lory and Kuu's obsession with getting the two together, Ren had no doubt in his mind that she would wholeheartedly agree with their schemes.

"T- that we get used to being around each other," Kyoko continued. At least it wasn't sex. That would be within his mother's arsenal, though he suspected she wouldn't suggest that on fear of retribution from Kuu, who would accuse her of 'corrupting his daughter.'

"Aren't we already used to being around each other in every way?" Ren asked. He didn't mention the Heel siblings specifically, but he knew that they had done just about everything to do as those characters.

"N- naked." Kyoko's face was red as a tomato now, and she looked down at her lap to avoid all eye contact.

Ren bit his tongue, trying not to cuss out his mother in front of Kyoko. Sure, it was probably good advice in getting them ready for such a scene, but his mom had to know that this would be a dangerous proposition. Far more dangerous than the Heel siblings ever were.

"It's good advice," Ren admitted aloud for Kyoko to hear. "But maybe we should start out slower? Like wearing robes or something? They will let you wear robes on set."

Kyoko was surprised to hear how close Ren's advice mirrored Julie's own. She nodded in agreement once more.

"Maybe you could come over and cook for me tonight? I can pick you up from LME once we're both done with work," Ren suggested.

"W- well… Julie also said something else," Kyoko said meekly, nervous that Julie's plan was coming to fruition. Still, if Ren agreed that this was good advice, it wouldn't hurt to ask him about another piece of it. "She suggested we watch some movies with love scenes so I can get a better idea of how to act in them."

Ren paused, suddenly even more frustrated with his mother. She knew exactly what she was doing. He briefly considered watching several of HBO's more popular dramas with her, but decided she didn't need her image of princesses or Westerns ruined. "I'm sure I have a couple movies we can watch. I have too many I haven't seen yet, although they're mostly in English."

"Really?"

"Yes. I'll be sure to pick one you'll like," he said with a smile. "Your English is good enough that you should be able to understand the movies. If you can't, I'll translate for you."

"Thank you," Kyoko said.

"So would tonight be okay?"

"I'm done with work at six tonight."

"I'll pick you up in the parking garage at six then," Ren told her. "I should be going to find Yashiro."

Kyoko watched him walk away and shut the door. As soon as it was closed, her heart rate shot up and nerves began to set in. How would she be able to survive this?

* * *

 **A/N:** So, I'm in school, so we'll see how fast I can update and how long the chapters will be. So far it's slow and short. There will be "plot" next time, using plot in the very loose and slightly inappropriate sense. (But not completely inappropriate yet)


	5. The First Nights

**Try Me**

 **A/N:** I don't have much to say about this chapter. Since this is the adjustment period, it will cover a few different nights.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Skip Beat

* * *

 **The First Nights**

Kyoko sat in Ren's passenger seat dreading what would happen tonight. She had already gone to the grocery to buy what she needed to cook dinner for him. Now they were on the way to Ren's apartment, preparing for what would be the first night of many acclimating to each other.

Before she knew it she was watching as Ren carried the grocery bags out of his trunk and into the elevator. She followed him up to his apartment, looking no higher than his feet out of embarrassment.

"I'm going to change now and pick out a movie," Ren commented. Kyoko swore it was shyer than she had ever heard him before, so she looked up. He was already gone to his bedroom. When he came back, he was wearing a warm black robe. "I'm sorry. I thought Lory had put a women's-sized robe in the apartment somewhere when I moved in, but I must have thrown it away."

Kyoko was correct: Lory was a pervert. Why else would he expect Ren to need a women's robe in his apartment? Then again, she herself called Ren a playboy. She never thought he was actually sleeping around and had no evidence to suggest it, so maybe Lory had a similar assumption. Or, per Lory's tendencies, it could've been a joke or a suggestion that he needed to have a scandal of his own.

"Here, this might work," Ren said, handing her a men's shirt. "It's one that a company sent me, but it was too large for me to wear."

Kyoko blushed, looking at the voluminous shirt. She hesitated for a minute before she realized it was better than being flat out naked as she would have to be on set. She scurried off to the guest room and put it on. Thankfully it was almost as modest as a dress. Shyly, she slinked back to the kitchen where Ren had already put away the groceries for her.

"Do you need any help?" Ren asked her.

"No," Kyoko replied. "Why don't you go pick out a movie?"

That was how Ren found himself going to his DVD shelves and staring, attempting to pick out a movie. He didn't want to start out with anything too serious or dramatic – that might scare Kyoko – so he picked out some stupid RomCom Lory had dumped on him.

While he waited for Kyoko to finish dinner, he began to nervously arrange the pillows on his couch. Even if the shirt was so large it went down to her knees, there was still an innate sexiness in seeing her wearing a man's shirt around his apartment.

He was trying to find a way to sit in order to hide his excitement like a teenager when Kyoko finally came in. She put the plates and bowls on his coffee table for them to eat while watching the movie.

They sat on opposite ends of the couch eating dinner, but both would cast glances at the other nervously. About halfway through the movie, they had finally become comfortable enough to sit still and watch the movie. Just as that happened, the sex scene began.

"Tsuruga-san?"

"Yes?"

"Is it common for guys to drop the girls onto the bed like that? It looks like it would hurt, not be fun," Kyoko said.

"Once we're done, we could try it. I don't think it hurts," Ren replied.

That was how they found themselves in Ren's bedroom, staring at his bed. Without asking if she was ready, Ren picked Kyoko up and carefully dropped her onto his bed.

"That didn't hurt at all, but he almost threw her," Kyoko said.

"He did?" Ren was almost afraid to drop her as violently as the actor in the film, but if that was what she wanted him to do, he figured he couldn't hurt her. He stared at Kyoko one more time before picking her up again. She nodded and he threw her onto the bed.

To his surprise, Kyoko was giggling. She was laying on the bed looking sexier than she had ever seen her. The shirt had ridden up, showing a peak of her hip on one side, and her hair was mussed up from the toss.

She sat up. "Would you mind doing that again?"

"It didn't hurt, right?"

She shook her head, so he picked her up and tried again. She began to giggle again.

"Once more?" He was happy to oblige. This time after he threw her, she was in an all-out fit of laughter.

Seeing Kyoko have so much fun, Ren began to laugh himself. He tried to stifle it, but Kyoko's laughter was contagious. He threw himself on the bed and laid down next to her, laughing with her.

They both relished in the moment, lying next to their crush and laughing with them. It was something both had wished for, but neither had expected to happen.

The laughter died down and the moment ended.

"Tsuruga-san?"

"Yes?"

"When can we do this again?"

"Well, next Sunday evening would work," Ren replied.

"Can I pick the movie? I thought I saw a Western movie I was interested in on your shelf."

"Of course. Should I cook then?"

"No!"

Once again, they were laughing.

* * *

That night, Ren drove Kyoko home. It had been one of the best nights he'd experienced since moving to Japan. Although he wished Kyoko could have stayed for the whole night to talk and laugh with him, he knew how that would appear the next morning. Not to mention she didn't have her school uniform at his apartment.

On the way home, he wondered what they would wear next week. They were too comfortable with what they'd worn this week to justify trying it again, so they would have to try something riskier. Still, it was too soon to be entirely naked, so maybe underwear?

* * *

Surprisingly enough, Kyoko had agreed to the escalation. That was how he found her cooking – wearing nothing but the cutest pair of pink and white panties and a light pink bra under her apron. She was humming in concentration as she cooked and hadn't noticed him enter the room. As she turned around to her cutting board she noticed him enter the room.

"Tsuruga-san!" She exclaimed. "What are you wearing?"

He laughed. It wasn't that he was wearing anything racy or tight that night, but he supposed she wouldn't peg him as the type to wear gag boxers. "An old pair of boxers."

"But frog boxers?"

Ren shrugged. "My dad got them for me."

Kyoko was surprised to hear that – Ren never talked about his parents.

"They were a gag gift for my birthday," he added. His 15th birthday, to be exact, but he didn't want Kyoko to know he even owned underwear that old. He almost wished he'd worn something sexy to match Kyoko, but he stood by his determination to keep Kyoko comfortable. Frog underwear was hardly as intimidating as even the same thing in black silk.

"So what are we going to watch?" Ren asked her.

Kyoko ran over to the DVD rack and picked out a DVD. It was one he had actually seen before – _Bridesmaids_. He had found it funny enough to watch again, but had never gotten a chance, so he was happy Kyoko picked it.

"Is this okay?"

"Yes, why don't I go set it up?"

This time, they weren't pressed up against the armrests of the couch. Instead, they were sitting comfortably on the end cushions of the couch. Still, they were more hesitant to discuss what they were seeing on screen. Ren had to explain some of the jokes to Kyoko, but she found herself enjoying the movie. The sex scene passed by with only slight discomfort for those on the couch, and by the end of the night neither individual was feeling overly uncomfortable. Still, they weren't ready to steal glances at one another.

"So, next week?" Kyoko asked.

"Unfortunately, I have work next Sunday, but Saturday night I'm entirely free," Ren replied. "Maybe we could get take-out? It is a Saturday night, after all."

"As long as it's from a restaurant and not a convenience store!"

"And what should we wear for our date?"

* * *

That was how Kyoko found herself standing in Ren's kitchen wearing nothing but the skimpy underwear she'd bought for Setsu. This time, they'd decided to go for underwear again, not quite ready to move to the next step. Kyoko had decided she should show a bit more skin, and Setsu's underwear was all she had that would do that. Unfortunately she hadn't bought any matching bras, so she was wearing a simple black one.

Ren walked into the kitchen to help bring the plates to his living room. As soon as he saw Kyoko, he wasn't sure he could look at her again. He knew he couldn't if he wanted to maintain any dignity. The tight boxer briefs he wore would surely show any arousal he had, and boy was Kyoko's clothing (or lack thereof) making him aroused. He slipped onto the couch so he could carefully position a throw pillow on his lap before Kyoko noticed anything.

Tonight, they had planned to watch a more dramatic movie, but they found themselves talking through dinner. They were so engrossed in their conversation that they had forgotten to even turn on the film. The conversation was so good that they had quickly gotten over the awkwardness of the state of dress.

Only after Kyoko had looked at the clock did she realize she needed to leave so that she could get to bed for the next day. She had one last thing she wanted to do.

"I- I think next week we can move on," Kyoko said. "But to make sure, can I just look at you?"

Ren was surprised by her request, but agreed. He acted like it was fine, but inside his heart was pounding in his chest. He stood up and stood at her, looking up and down at her figure as she looked at his.

"Thank you," Kyoko said before dashing off (cutely, Ren thought) to the guest room to get dressed. He shrugged on a pair of jean and a t-shirt he'd kept on the couch in case of an emergency – or rather in case Kyoko got too uncomfortable.

Kyoko returned dressed in her normally modest attire, ready to go home.

"So, when next week?" Ren asked her, not quite sure if he wanted it sooner or later. Either way, he had gotten very much on top of knowing his schedule so that he could set these meetings up without any interference from Yashiro. Because if Yashiro knew about this, it would be a mess.

"I'm free every night after seven," Kyoko said, thinking about her schedule.

"Then would Sunday work again? I've got fan club events Friday and Saturday evening and a radio show Thursday," Ren explained. Sunday would end early enough, and he knew he surely needed a little time with Kyoko after those fan club events. He wished Japan was like America, where fan club events were entirely nonexistent. Instead he had to deal with a gaggle of screeching fans asking him repetitive and stupid questions for two hours twice this weekend. At least he'd gotten popular enough to justify only have a few of them a year. (He was "too busy")

"Thursday sounds fine," Kyoko replied. She typed a reminder into her phone. "You're doing fan club events? I haven't heard of you doing any in a long time."

"Unfortunately. Lory insisted," Ren sighed.

"What do you even do at those? Sawara-san mentioned I might be having one soon."

That made Ren happy. He wouldn't tell her, but only actors with substantial fan clubs were asked to hold them. Mostly the events were for idols and singers. "Well, usually you answer fan questions and sign autographs and merchandise to give out. Sometimes they have you showcase a talent. Maybe you could do a cooking demo."

"What talent to you show them?" Kyoko asked. Other than acting and martial arts, she wasn't sure what talents Ren possessed.

"Usually I talk about the characters I portray," Ren replied. "This week I think will be centered on my modeling, so I'd assume I'll be showing off my favorite outfits I've worn."

"Maybe you can tell me what you did Sunday?"

"I will, Mogami-san," he replied with a tired smile. Now he had something to look forward to.

* * *

 **A/N:** Sorry the chapters are kinda short. Otherwise, I wouldn't get them out.


	6. The Naked Truth

**Try Me**

 **A/N:** So this is where it begins to get a bit fluffier (and dirtier), but we're not at the point where smut happens quite yet. Holy long chapter batman (well, by this story's standards)

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Skip Beat

* * *

 **The Naked Truth**

Ren paced his apartment. He hadn't been able to pick Kyoko up tonight, so he was waiting for her to arrive. Tonight, given their state of dress, he'd picked a very modest and non-sexual movie to watch. In fact, it didn't even have a sex scene he knew of. He had also made sure to purchase a pink silk (princess-like) Kyoko-sized robe in case she got too uncomfortable and placed his own robe at the ready on the back of his couch.

It was already 8:30, so Kyoko was very late. He wondered she'd decided she was too nervous to show up. Suddenly a knock on his door sent him running. Luckily, he was still dressed – he'd ordered delivery pizza for dinner, after all. Unfortunately it was just the pizza, not Kyoko.

By 9:00, he was holding his phone, debating if he should be calling her to find out if she was alright. Thankfully, when the doorbell rang again, it was Kyoko. She was already on the ground apologizing for being late.

"It's alright, Mogami-san," he assured her. "Come inside."

"Are you sure?"

He held open the door and gestured for her to come inside.

"I'm going to get dressed," Kyoko said, scurrying off nervously.

Ren decided he would follow suit and sauntered nervously off to his room. To lessen the impact on Kyoko, he wore a towel around his waist. On his way to the living room, he stopped by the kitchen to grab the now cooling box of pizza.

When he got to the living room, he immediately turned his head away to avoid seeing the now-naked Kyoko on his couch. What he did see was sexy as hell, but he couldn't let himself get too much of an eyeful. He placed the pizza box on the table, turned on the movie (he couldn't stand to talk to her – that would mean looking at her), removed his towel, and went to eat his now-cooling pizza. All he saw of Kyoko was her hand grabbing a couple pizza slices.

Ren tried to focus on the movie, but caught himself stealing glances at Kyoko. About an hour in, he noticed she had fallen asleep on his couch. He debated carrying her to the guest room, but he wondered how she would feel about him touching her naked body. Instead, he grabbed a quilt from his closet and placed it over her. He adjusted the throw pillow to sit comfortably under her head. While Ren liked the movie, he turned it off so that he could go to bed as well.

* * *

At five in the morning, Kyoko woke up to an alarm blaring in another room. She tried to remember where she was. She looked around and realized she had fallen asleep on Ren's couch the night before. Although she realized she was still naked from the night before, a warm quilt was draped over her body.

The smell of coffee wafted from the kitchen, which told her Ren must be up. She wrapped the quilt around her for modesty and walked quietly to the guest room, hoping Ren wouldn't notice that she was up. Kyoko had to be at school by eight that morning, so she would need to stop by the Darumaya to get dressed.

"Mogami-san?" Ren's voice came from the kitchen. "Do you need a ride this morning?"

"No, I can bike home," she responded from the guest room.

"It's too cold and dark out for that," Ren replied. "I'm driving you. You can pick your bike up after school tonight if you'd like, although I won't be here."

Kyoko nodded. "Thank you. Umm… Since last night didn't work out, could we meet again this week?" She was beginning to look forward to every meeting with him, even if it would be embarrassing. It was nice to cook for and watch movies with Ren, even if she knew he wouldn't do this without the movie to motivate him.

"Does Saturday night work? I have Sunday off this week, but I know you usually have Love Me work Saturday," Ren suggested.

"Saturday night will work," Kyoko confirmed. "What time?"

"My last job finishes at six. Would it be alright to pick you up at LME about 6:30?"

* * *

At 6:30 on the dot, Ren came (discreetly – he didn't want Lory to know about their meetings) to the Love Me room to pick Kyoko up. He noticed she had a duffle bag with her (was she planning to stay the night?).

"Tsuruga-san," Kyoko said nervously. "I hope you don't mind."

"Mind what?" Ren asked. He had an annoyed smile on his face – not because Kyoko didn't ask him whatever she was going to in advance, but rather because she thought Ren wouldn't be willing to do her a favor.

"I brought a change of clothes with me in case I ended up falling asleep at your apartment again," Kyoko explained.

"Of course that's okay, Mogami-san." In fact, if he had his way, she would be staying over often enough that she would need that change in clothes. "I was actually wondering if you'd be willing to go out to pick up some food first."

"Are you sure? I can cook."

"I know you've had a long day, Mogami-san. You shouldn't have to cook."

Kyoko tried not to express that she felt she was burdening Ren more, so she agreed.

To her surprise, she found herself eating a steak at the very restaurant she had eaten with him when she had been his manager for the day. This time, Ren had made sure to sit in the least visible spot in the restaurant, hoping no one would see him. Only the waiter noticed that the actor and actress were having dinner alone together, seemingly in their own world. For both Kyoko and Ren, having that familiar conversation was enough to calm them down for the night ahead.

Once they were in Ren's apartment, both quickly moved to get undressed, but both were hesitant to go out to the living room. Ren was surprised (but happy) to see that Kyoko had taken advantage of the robe he'd gotten for her. He was still wearing his robe.

Slowly, they each took off their robes. They were too embarrassed to look directly at each other, so they took to stealing glances while they watched the rest of the movie Kyoko had slept through the last week.

During the credits, Kyoko finally got up the courage to look at Ren's naked form. The coffee table blocked some of her view, but she could see most of his torso. She noted that his muscles were larger than she'd anticipated. Most Japanese men could not build such a bulky physique. Even muscular guys looked leaner than him. She wondered when he had time to gain that muscle with his busy schedule and bad eating habits.

Her eyes moved further down his torso despite her hesitancy to look anywhere near his crotch. She figured this was why they had to be naked, so she might as well take a look. She was surprised to see that his hair was light in color – more golden than dark brown like Ren's was.

"Your hair…" is naturally blonde, Kyoko thought. Ren whipped his head around to look at her. She had a suspicion that overcame any embarrassment she was feeling, so she crawled over and brought her own eyes as close as she could to his own. She knew he wore contacts for Cain, but she remembered seeing an extra case in the bathroom of their hotel room. In his eyes she could see the faint outlines of contact lenses. "Your eyes..." aren't brown. "Are you…" Corn?

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

She sat back. "No – No – I get it. I always understood that Corn wasn't a fairy prince. It's just – I didn't want to – I didn't want to admit that to myself. It's always easier to rely on fantasies instead of facing the harshness of reality."

"I'm so sorry. I guess – I – well, I liked acting as Corn. As Corn, I always knew there was a gorgeous, smart, talented girl who admired me. I guess you still do. But I worried that if I told you I was Corn – that Corn wasn't real – that you'd lose that energy and positivity I love about you – that got me through so much." Kyoko saw what she thought was the first genuine expression of fear she'd ever seen on Ren's face. Honestly, she never thought she'd see him this vulnerable.

"Liked acting as Corn? You won't still do it?"

"If you want me to, I will." He gave Kyoko a sad but hopeful smile.

"Thank you, Corn." She hugged him, forgetting about her lack of clothes. Of course she was a bit angry with Ren for keeping that from him, but realizing his reasoning was so similar to her own (that Corn was an escape from reality), she understood why he couldn't tell her. He was afraid that telling her would ruin that escape for both of them.

Ren tried to compose himself, but it was hard when he'd just made himself so vulnerable. Kyoko hugging him certainly helped. _Naked_ Kyoko wasn't helping, now that he was calm enough to remember that little fact. Of _course_ his penis had to twitch, breaking the moment for both of them. Kyoko jerked back and blushed.

Kyoko looked down in shame, only to be met with the body part that had just startled her. She turned her head away, but she couldn't ignore what she saw and heard. Ren had called her gorgeous, and said he loved something about her. And now his body was showing he was attracted to her. But she wondered if his body wouldn't react like that for any naked woman.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Ren grabbed his robe and shoved it onto his lap. "It's just…" He couldn't finish that sentence.

"N- no! It's okay."

Ren wrapped his arms around Kyoko once more. "I love you, you know that, right?"

Kyoko struggled to get out of his arms, trying to see his face to see if he was lying. He wouldn't let her. "You couldn't."

He squeezed her tighter, as if he was afraid she'd leave. She was certainly trying to. "Why not?"

"I'm plain. There are many prettier, more talented actresses you could love."

"Even if there were, which there aren't, I don't care about superficial things. I care about the person underneath the surface, and you're the most beautiful person I've ever met." Ren's face was pressed into her hair, making his voice a bit muffled, but she got the message. He felt tears touching his chest where her face was pressed against it.

"But I heard that you had a crush on a high school girl," Kyoko said into his chest.

Ren was surprised. He had no idea where she would've heard that since only ever told Bo about his crush. He could save that question for another time. "That's true."

Kyoko was afraid to ask, but considering Ren's earlier confession, she had to know. "Who is she?"

"You," Ren whispered. Kyoko felt him kiss the top of her head.

"But I'm," she tried to protest. Then she realized she was the high school girl he'd told Bo about. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Loving me."

Ren felt Kyoko's arms wind their way back around his torso.

They sat in that position for another hour before Kyoko finally decided that she was too uncomfortable in her current position. She gently pried herself from Ren's arms and went to put on her robe.

"Kyoko-chan?" Kyoko was surprised hearing her name from Ren's mouth. "Would you like me to drive you home?" He was afraid she was too scared of what he'd revealed to stay. Even though she'd hugged him back, he didn't know if she was willing to accept him.

Kyoko shook her head. "Could I stay here tonight?"

Ren's eyebrows rose and a hopeful smile crossed his face. "Of course, Kyoko-chan. I'd be happy to have you."

"Thank you, Ren-san!" Kyoko scurried off to the guest bedroom to get ready for bed, not seeing Ren's beaming face.

* * *

The next morning Ren woke up early not because he had to, but because his excitement from the night before had given him too much energy. He opened the door to the guest room to check in on Kyoko and found himself staring at her for a good ten minutes.

Despite his excitement, he tried to follow his normal morning routine. Ren put on fresh clothes, grabbed the latest script he was working on (and a dictionary), started a pot of coffee, and sat at his table. Still, he couldn't focus on a single word in the script.

"Ren-san?"

Ren turned around and was happy to see Kyoko was actually still in his apartment and calling him by his first name. She was still wearing the pink pajamas he'd seen her in earlier. He stood up and moved to hug her, if only for more physical proof that it was actually her and not some sleep-deprived hallucination.

"Good morning, Kyoko," he said, dropping all honorifics and hoping she wouldn't care.

"Did you have any breakfast yet?"

Ren indicated his coffee cup.

"Coffee doesn't count!"

"Then maybe we could go get breakfast?"

"But what if someone saw?"

Ren was about to ask if she was really that embarrassed, but then realized what she was saying. If they were caught both last night and this morning, it would be a major scandal.

"There's a good French bakery on the corner. Why don't I get us some pastries and fruit for breakfast? What time to you need to be at LME?"

"I don't know. Usually I head in at noon on Sundays since hardly anyone's around to do Love Me tasks for," Kyoko replied.

Ren contemplated telling Lory that he wanted Kyoko all day for a Love Me task, but that would be too suspicious. "Well, we can at least have the morning to talk then, right?"

Kyoko nodded.

"By the time you're done getting ready, I'll be back." He kissed her on the cheek and went to get his shoes on.

Sure enough, when Kyoko sat down at the table Ren had returned with a box of pastries. He grabbed a bowl filled with yogurt and berries from the bag he carried and sat across the table from Kyoko.

"How did you sleep?" He asked her, genuinely concerned that she, too, had been too filled with energy to sleep.

"Alright," Kyoko replied ambiguously. In reality she had been up most of the night processing everything - from Ren's admission that he was Corn to his love confession.

"Was last night alright?" Ren didn't know what he was asking about – the nakedness or his confession to her or her finding out about Corn's identity.

"Well, it made me more nervous to be naked around you." That was a bad sign. "But, I'm really happy to know that Corn is beside me."

Ren wanted to ask her what capacity Corn was beside her in, but didn't feel it was appropriate to ask.

"Corn?" Kyoko paused. "Is Corn your real name? Well, not Corn, but something similar?"

Ren nodded.

"Is it Kuon?"

Ren's eyes shot wide open in surprise. "I'm sorry for not telling you that either," he apologized automatically, afraid she would feel even more betrayed.

"I just thought last night – you would look really similar to Otou-san if you had blond hair. Corn – you when you were younger – was his spitting image."

"I'm sorry."

"Is that why you don't use your real name? You don't want to be associated with your past?"

Ren nodded, surprised not only by how much Kyoko was opening up, but also with how bold she was being in questioning him. He nodded.

"I know you said that you had gotten fired from a lot of jobs at the start of your career. That wasn't Tsuruga Ren, though, was it? That was Hizuri Kuon, right?"

Again, all Ren could do was nod.

"You don't have to tell me what happened that makes you afraid of your past," Kyoko told him. He wasn't afraid of his failures on the job, so she knew something else must have happened. "But if you need me, I'll be here."

Ren hadn't noticed that his hand had grabbed Kyoko's across the table. "Thank you for loving me," he said, echoing her words from the night before. "No matter what I've done."

Kyoko blushed, surprised at how unusually vulnerable and tender Ren had been acting. Knowing Lory (and Ren himself), this was information that no one but those two probably knew. It must've been a burden on him to keep that secret. She knew it must be rather cathartic for him to share his past, so maybe he was relieved he could finally talk to someone about this. If that was the case, she knew she must be very special to him, even if she didn't want to believe it.

"I'll tell you some day," Ren sighed. "I'd like to do that, but I'm not sure I'm ready to face it myself. For now, though, will you just stay by my side?"

"Of course I will, Ren-san."

"Ren."

"Of course I will, Ren."

* * *

Leaving LME that night, Kyoko got a text from Ren. She opened it to find a picture of a messy dinner on one his plates. The accompanying text read, "I tried making a simple recipe. It didn't go well. Maybe next week when you come over you can show me how not to burn rice?"

Kyoko giggled girlishly. "What time?" she texted back.

"Friday at seven works," his text read.

"I'll see you then."

* * *

 **A/N:** Hope that wasn't too OOC and was plenty fluffy for your post-Valentine's day weekend. The next chapter will take longer to come out due to more work, but I hope you keep reading.


	7. The Visitor

**Try Me**

 **A/N:** This was not planned as far as my rough outline for what was going to happen but it happened anyways so here we go.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Skip Beat

* * *

 **The Visitor**

"So, Kyoko, how's it going with Tsuruga-san?"

"I don't really want to talk about it, Moko-san," Kyoko said. She had a small smile and a light blush on her face.

"Does that mean it's going well?" Kanae had no idea what Ren and Kyoko were doing other than meeting up once a week. The smile rather than a look or horror or sadness suggested Kyoko wasn't talking about it because she was embarrassed, not because it was going badly. That suggested it was going well.

"Well, he's been eating well," Kyoko responded. "One night he even bothered to take me out to dinner when I didn't have enough time to cook."

Kanae smiled. It was good that they were making progress. "Have you gotten the script for your upcoming project yet?"

Kyoko shook her head.

"Don't you start shooting in a month? I'm surprised they haven't told you anything about the plot or the characters even," Kanae replied.

"Yashiro-san said that he was able to get a copy of that information this morning for us, so Tsuruga-san is planning to give me my copy tonight," Kyoko said. "Although it's frustrating it took a month to get, we've had less time in the past, so I'm sure it will work out."

"Usually you get some idea at the audition of what they want."

"I didn't really audition," Kyoko shrugged. "They just offered me the part."

"Well, considering your previous roles and what the role entails, maybe you're playing a mature character of some sort or a bully? Maybe he found out about Bo and it will be the comic relief?"

"I wish I could tell you. I hope it's not a bully role, though. Two of those is too many." Inside, Kyoko was freaking out. Director Ueda knew about Setsu, so she could also be cast to play an absolutely scandalous role. Considering what he expected her to do, it was possible.

"Are you trying out for anything else? I've got a few scripts but I can't decide which ones I should audition for," Kanae asked.

Kyoko shook her head. "I know I got a few scripts for teen dramas, but I haven't looked too much into them. The movie will take two months to shoot, so it's hard to find something that will fit into my schedule."

"You got the script for that drama about the sisters, right?"

"The one where they find out they're heiresses?"

"Yeah, that one," Kanae grumbled. "They wanted us to audition for different sisters."

Kanae saw Kyoko's eyes light up. Playing Kanae's sister _and_ an heiress was right up Kyoko's alley. "I'll definitely be auditioning for that then!"

"I thought you'd be more enthusiastic once you heard that," Kanae said. "I heard you also got a part in another historical drama lately."

"Yeah. Unfortunately we're rushing the rest of my scenes in December so I can film the other project in January and February."

"Well, I'm sure they're okay with it, otherwise they would've replaced you," Kanae assured her.

"I guess. I'm also not in that many episodes late in the series, so it wasn't too much to reschedule."

"Oh! Has Sawara-san told you about the new Love Me-"

Suddenly the door swung open. Tsuruga Ren entered, wearing one of the angriest looks Kanae imagined he could make. He was heading straight towards Kyoko. Maybe their interactions weren't going well after all? Kyoko had a horrified expression as she watched him trudge across the room. He walked right by her and flopped over onto the couch, leaving his hand resting on top of his eyes. Kanae couldn't believe she was seeing such a famous gentleman acting so slovenly.

"T- Tsuruga-san?" Kyoko asked. Instinctively, she knew it wasn't Ren. Likely, it was closer to Kuon. She didn't dare call him that name while Kanae was here.

"He's here," Ren groaned out in English, hoping Kanae wouldn't understand.

"Who's here?" Kyoko asked, suddenly very worried. She wondered who it could be that would make Ren this upset. Sho was just a minor nuisance, and Lory toed the line between helpful and annoying. I he was Cain, Murasame would've been a problem. But for Ren, there weren't many people that would shake him.

"My Dad's here."

"What? Why?" Kyoko hadn't heard of any reason for Kuu to be in town. Something was wrong, especially if he was slipping in unnoticed. The man loved attention. " _When_?"

"Last night sometime. He was at my door this morning demanding to be let in when I woke up and proceeded to search my apartment."

"If he doesn't have your key, then Lory probably doesn't know," Kyoko replied, switching to English for what she hoped was extra privacy.

"Maybe Lory can help get him out then," Ren groaned. "I'm sure he'd like to catch up with Dad."

"But then Lory would tell him about the movie and that scene in it."

"Point," Ren said. To Kanae's surprise, he moved his loose hand to grip Kyoko's. She had known they were close, but for him to be able to do that without Kyoko freaking out was a big step up in their relationship. She knew they were talking about Ren's father, but her English skills were severely lacking so she wasn't following much of it.

"Do you know why he's here?" Kyoko asked.

"I think he thinks we're hiding something from him. Something about something Mom told him."

"So then we'll just have to avoid each other until he leaves. When will that be?"

"I don't know," Ren groaned out. "I called Mom as soon as he showed up but she hasn't called back."

"Does she have your phone number?"

"No."

As if on cue, Kyoko's phone rang. "Hello?" She asked in English. Ren was sure it was his mother.

"Kyoko! Is Kuu there?" Julie asked in a panic.

"No, he's at Mr. Tsuruga's apartment," Kyoko replied.

"I'm so sorry," Julie replied. "I told him that you and Kuon were cast in the same movie and he thought something was – Is Kuon with you?"

"Yes."

"Can you put me on speaker phone?"

Kyoko turned around to look at Kanae, and the baffled girl took it as her cue to leave. After the door to the hallway shut, Kyoko turned to her phone to speakerphone.

"Ku – Ren," Julie corrected herself in case anyone was around. "So Kuu's at your apartment?"

"Yeah," Ren told his mom. "And he's been snooping around."

"Is there anything for him to find? Any of Kyoko's stuff? Clothes? God forbid – do you still keep condoms in various places? Or throw them away so obviously?" Ren gulped not at Julie's reminder, but rather at knowing the pink robe he bought for Kyoko was hung in the bathroom next to his own.

Kyoko whipped her head around to stare at Ren, a luminescent brush on her face.

"M- Mom! I never did that," Ren protested. Kyoko found it so odd to see him so flustered. Apparently it was something only his mother could make him do.

"Tell that to the time you fucked that girl in the kitchen and ended up 'accidentally' getting the condom in the sink," Julie calmly reminded him. "Oh, and you forgot to clean up the mess you made on the counter, but I digress. Since this is my fault, I'll see what I can do about Kuu leaving. Where are you going to stay tonight, Kuon?"

"I don't think Kyoko would be comfortable having me as a guest, and I'm not keen to book a hotel. I'll probably just stay home to make sure Kuu doesn't find anything."

"And you, Kyoko? You'll be okay?"

"I think so. He doesn't know where I live."

"That's good then. You both have to make it to Monday. He'll have to come back for work then," Julie told them. "So only the weekend. I'll call Lory to tell him what Kuu's up to, so hopefully he'll be able to distract Kuu adequately until then."

"Thanks, Mom," Kuon said.

"You're always welcome, but you'll be more welcome if you come to see me. Oh, and Kyoko?"

"Yes, Julie-san?"

"You mean, 'Yes Mom,'" Julie corrected her.

"Yes, Mom?" Kyoko repeated, embarrassed to be calling Ren's mother 'Mom' in front of him.

"Make sure to send us an invitation to the Grateful Party this year. I made sure that Kuu and I had clear schedules so we could attend."

"Really?" Kyoko's eyes lit up, all signs of embarrassment leaving her face.

"Of course! I wouldn't miss my lovely daughter's party for the world," Julie said.

"I'll make sure to do that! I think we're making them on Sunday to be sent on Monday," Kyoko informed Julie.

"I'll be expecting it soon, then," Julie told Kyoko. "As for you, Kuon, you should leave soon to figure out what your father's been up to. I have to go as well. I'll talk to you both later. Call me if you have any problems with my husband."

"Bye, Mom," Ren and Kyoko said together.

As soon as Kyoko hung up, Ren pulled her arm, causing her to fall on top of him on the couch. Somehow she wasn't as nervous as she would've been just a month before. They'd hugged naked, so what was snuggling clothed?  
"I have the scripts with me," Ren said. "Would you like to go over them now?"

"Maybe next week? Does Friday work again?"

"Yeah," Ren replied. He began to nuzzle the top of her head – something Kyoko was beginning to notice he liked to do. "I should be getting home. Your robe is still in my bathroom, so I should hide that before Dad finds it."

Kyoko found herself returning his nuzzle, although she could only reach up to his neck. "That would be good. I wouldn't want Otou-san to find that. He'd be so mad at me."

"Not at you," Ren corrected. "At me for deflowering you."

"But you didn't- We haven't-"

"No, we haven't." _Yet,_ Ren added. "But that's what a woman's robe hanging in a man's bathroom implies. And you know Kuu – he believes what he wants to."

Kyoko felt Ren sit up beneath her. She adjusted herself so she was sitting next to him. "Umm, Ren?"

"Yeah?"

"Is it true – what your mom said?"

"Is what true?"

"That- that you had sex with a girl and then left the condom in the sink?" Kyoko had no idea why she asked the question – morbid curiousity or a desire to know more about Kuon.

Ren put a fist to his mouth to hide the embarrassed laugh he let out.

"Unfortunately, yeah. It was after a high school party we'd had and I took her home. My parents were out at some benefit so she suggested that we should go for it. We were too drunk to care, so we knocked over a bottle of wine on the counter, and when she threw the condom into the sink instead of the trash we figured my parents would just throw it away when they got home. I was not a smart drunk as a teenager."

"So what happened?"

"Well, my parents _did_ clean up, but they aren't going let me live that one down, apparently."

"Is that common?"

"I haven't had sex since moving to Japan," Ren said. It had been part of his transformation into Ren – Kuon thrived on hookups and one night stands. Now both of them were much more mature on the issue, and all his lust was directed towards Kyoko no matter who he was portraying.

"No, not that. Fifteen year olds having sex and drinking! I thought that was just a movie stereotype of America."

"It's pretty common for high schoolers to do that, especially in Hollywood. I was a bit more refined in that I'd wait until I got home to do anything – a lot of us couldn't wait and would end up doing whatever at the party," Ren sighed. "I was actually pretty happy to move to Japan and see that wasn't the norm here. It only led to drama."

"It must," Kyoko shivered. She couldn't imagine how catty things would get if all the teenagers at her school started doing that on a regular basis. And then it would spill over into the media and get even messier.

"Well, I should go," Ren said. "I need to see what Dad's doing."

"Yeah," Kyoko replied. To Ren's surprise, she reached her lips up to his for a quick peck on his lips. "I hope it goes well."

They both stared at each other blushing, wondering what had happened. Ren bent down for a second kiss, as if he wanted to confirm what had just happened. "I love you too," he said before rushing back out of the room.

Kanae came back into the room as soon as Ren left. "Mo- What was that about? Is Tsuruga-san's Dad okay?" She asked her friend.

"It's nothing. His father just came for a surprise visit," Kyoko replied.

"Shouldn't he be happy then?"

"Well, his father can be a bit… overbearing," Kyoko tried to explain nicely. "And now that he's visiting, he's trying to search through Tsuruga-san's stuff."

"What? Why would he do that?"

"He's good friends with Lory, so he knows that Tsuruga-san and I are working on the movie together. I think he thinks that we're together or something," Kyoko sighed.

"Does he think that's a good thing or a bad thing?"

"I don't know," Kyoko answered honestly. Kuu would probably be over the moon to know Kuon and Kyoko were in a relationship, but who knew how he was going to react to any evidence of their indecent encounters.

* * *

"Kuon!" Kuu cried as his very frustrated son walked through the door. He got up from his perch on the couch (where he was drinking some of Ren's best whiskey) and strode over to greet his son.

"Hizuri-san," Ren said coldly. By not calling Kuu "Dad," he knew he was showing his anger.

"Don't be like that," Kuu whined after him. "I even made you dinner!"

Sure enough, Ren found an assortment of his favorite American dishes on the counter in his kitchen.

"Why are you here?" As he had last time with his father, Ren went straight for the kill.

"I heard that Kuon and you were starring in a movie together," Kuu said. "I was hoping to congratulate you in person."

"That's not why you're here," Ren replied. "You wanted to know if Kyoko and I were in a relationship, didn't you?"

Kuu flinched at his son's accusation. "Julie said you were playing a couple in the movie, so I thought-"

"No, it's okay," Ren said venomously. "I'm surprised you haven't gone to see Lory already."

"He doesn't know I'm here, it was a very last minute thing," Kuu said. He wanted to see Lory, but he knew what his son was trying to accomplish. If Kuu went to see Lory there was no way Kuon would let him back into the apartment.

"Do you need me to arrange it?"

"No," Kuu replied.

Ren stomped off to his bedroom, afraid of what he'd found. Thankfully, it looked just as he had left it. The real fear hit when he opened the bathroom door. The pink robe was still on the hook next to his.

Unfortunately, he hadn't noticed that Kuu had followed him. His father stood in the doorway to his room, watching as his son went into the bathroom. At least he couldn't see inside. Ren didn't bother closing the door before peeing, so as not to give Kuu a reason to think he was going to the bathroom to hide something (like he was).

"Hizuri-san?"

"Are you mad, Kuon?"

"No," Ren told his dad, brilliant smile on his face.

"Would you like to talk about it?"

"No," Ren replied. Still, he went to the kitchen to grab a bite of his father's cooking. Although Kyoko was an amazing chef, she couldn't currently make anything American. That made the macaroni and cheese, sliders, French fries, and green beans look delicious even if the combination would have disgusted him just years earlier.

Father and son sat on the couch, watching a Friday night variety show that Kuu had turned on. Ren saw why: Kyoko was on the panel. She wasn't getting as much attention as the idols or her fellow actresses (like most actresses, she wasn't made for variety shows), but she was still getting some screen time.

"She's good at this," Kuu said. "Better than you."

"Well, I'm used to doing boring old interviews," Ren explained.

"No wonder Lory says you're boring."

"Well, then. Why doesn't the expert show me? I have an interview on a show this weekend. I'm sure they'd be happy to have such a famous man as a guest," Ren challenged his father.

"Sorry, can't do it. Maybe another time. I'm going home tomorrow morning to make sure I get home for work," Kuu said.

"Really? Going home so soon?"

"Well, since there's nothing to see," Kuu said, his tone implying he didn't entirely believe that. "I figured it would be best to spend more time here around the time of the Grateful Party."

"I'll see you there, then," Ren challenged his father.

"Julie and I were thinking we'd stay with you then as well," Kuu said.

"I'd prefer not to hear my parents having sex across the hall from me at night," Ren replied.

"I was kidding. We're staying with Lory." That didn't mean Kuu didn't plan on coming for a surprise visit to his son's apartment. He'd seen the robe, and that was all the evidence he needed that something was going on.

* * *

 **A/N:** Another cliffhanger! To be resolved at some point in time…


	8. The Rehearsal

**Try Me**

 **A/N:** Back on track with the story after that little interlude. This will be shorter than the last two chapters because I know that people don't read these stories much for plot, more for smut.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Skip Beat

* * *

 **The Rehearsal**

A week after Kuu had left, Kyoko and Ren found themselves sitting naked (well, covered in a blanket due to cold) on his couch eating American takeout. Kyoko had protested that the food would be too unhealthy, but Ren insisted. He had informed her that if she had ever truly wanted to know Kuon, she also had to know his favorite foods. So here they were, eating burgers and fries and looking at the scripts for the new movie.

The scene they were worried about was written very vaguely. "That's pretty common – they want to get real emotion out of the actors. There's not usually a lot of dialogue anyways, and what dialogue there is isn't usually scripted," Ren had explained.

After about an hour of reading and sipping their milkshakes, Kyoko decided it was time to discuss.

"So what's your character like?" Kyoko asked Ren. She had read his parts alongside hers, but wanted to get his take on the character so she had a better idea of how to play off of him.

"He's a slacker," he replied. "He got his job at the company because his father was on the board, even though his grades were bad. That also means a lot of his colleagues look up to him despite his young age."

"That's why he sleeps with my character, then," Kyoko thought out loud. She was set to play a naïve country girl who had graduated at the top of her university class, which led her to get a job at the company Ren's character worked for. It was a bit eerie how similar it was to her own mother's case. "Because he knows he can take advantage of her. If she complains, she'll probably be fired, since women her age don't typically get positions other than that of an office lady."

"I'd say he does it more because of his attraction to her. He wants to have a relationship with her because he knows that would be risky in the scheme of his job. He's already bad at it, so he doesn't want there to be another reason to be fired."

"They wouldn't fire him, if his Dad's on the board," Kyoko replied.

"I suppose that's true," Ren said. "But I think he does it for more than just power. Maybe he finds her to be a good friend with benefits or something."

"Even though he's trying to take advantage of her, I think she's trying to take advantage of him," Kyoko said. "In a scene with her friends, they suggest she sleep with him to get closer to the boss for a promotion."

"So they're trying to take advantage of each other to get ahead – a slacker and a naïve newcomer," Ren summarized.

Kyoko nodded.

"Did you get the pages that finish the ending for my character?" Ren asked.

Kyoko shook her head. "Did you get the ones for mine?"

"No. Would it help if I told you what happens?"

Kyoko nodded. She drew her knees up to her chest under the blanket.

"He ends up being a terrible employee, but is not fired. Eventually he gets promoted to be her boss," Ren told her.

"My character ends up getting accused of being in a relationship with him, and although there's never any evidence, she's relegated to becoming a secretary," Kyoko said sadly. "I wonder why he'd make such a sad ending."

"The worse the ending, the more likely it is to win awards in America, for some reason," Ren said. "Critics love misery."

"But is there a point to any of it?"

"I don't know. It's usually to make some sort of social commentary," Ren tried to explain. "In this case, I'd assume it's a critique of the sexism and hierarchy of Japanese business culture and how women aren't respected and family connections are everything. But I don't know much about business in Japan, only in America, and even then I have very limited knowledge."

"I suppose it's somewhat accurate," Kyoko told Ren. "A lot of women, even with advanced degrees, get into bad situations." The thought drew Kyoko back to her mother and the reason for her birth.

Ren could tell Kyoko was a bit bothered by the content of the script, and their conversation about it. "Would you like to talk about it later? Why don't we take a break for now?"

Kyoko nodded. Ren slid his way across the couch and made his way under her blanket to cuddle up with her. Kyoko was freaking out inside, but she leaned into his chest for comfort. She looked up into his eyes and saw that they were once again green, which relaxed her. Corn's eyes were always a source of comfort for her.

"Your eyes are beautiful, Corn," Kyoko said. "I'm glad you took your contacts out today."

"I thought you would like to see them," He assured her. "And I'm able to be vulnerable like this around you."

Kyoko never thought of his eyes as a vulnerability, but she supposed they could give away a lot about him – his heritage, his identity, or even his past. She lay her head against his chest, trying to hear his heart beat. It was still strange for her to feel her face against his bare chest. As he opened up to her emotionally and physically, and she did the same to him, it was becoming easier do this with no shame.

Ren grabbed Kyoko around the waist so that he could lay her body flat onto the couch. He was afraid of scaring her with any lack of cooperation from his penis (as had happened last time), so he was vigilant to lay himself down carefully next to her.

"Corn," Kyoko asked him. "What is America like?"

So he told her what he could remember – his house, the hills, the parks, the ocean, his school – everything. Halfway through his description of the rose garden his mom brought him to, he noticed that Kyoko had fallen asleep. Unwilling to let her sleep on the guest bed (it was unchanged from Kuu's occupation), he picked her up and brought her to his bed. For modesty's sake, he couldn't put anything on her body, but he put a pair of sweatpants on himself before climbing in next to her. He found it easy to fall asleep with Kyoko nearby.

* * *

Kyoko woke up in the morning to a phone alarm. She could feel that she was still naked from the night before, but she wasn't cold. Her nose smelled something musky in front of her. Most surprisingly was the body next to her – warm and large. She remembered falling asleep next to Ren, but she didn't imagine she'd wake up in his bed with him next to her.

Ren was curled protectively around Kyoko, with Kyoko curled into a ball against his stomach and thighs. One arm wound around her back to draw her to him, while the other lay just above her butt. Luckily she felt that he had taken the time to put on pants, so she wasn't at risk of touching anything too uncomfortable. She tried to roll over so she could see the bedside clock for the time, but Ren's arms tightened their grip.

"Kyoko?" Ren's groggy voice asked.

"Ren?" Kyoko asked back, wondering how awake he really was. She looked up at his face to see that his eyes were somewhat open.

He looked down at her and noticed the blush developing on her face, leading him to unwrap her from his arms. "Here, let me get you your robe so you don't feel too uncomfortable. I'm sorry for assuming you'd want to be in my bed last night."

Kyoko watched him get up and stumble off to the bathroom. "It's okay." She wondered what she could say to stop him from feeling guilty, but figured staying in bed would give him the right message. When he returned with her robe, she also shook her head to refuse it, so he set it on the bottom of the bed for her to get when she was ready. "Do you want to come back to bed? I'm sure you don't need to be up this early."

Ren looked up, surprised, and quickly wormed his way back under the covers on the opposite side of the bed. "What do you have to do today?"

"Just school. Because we're so busy during the week, we have full days Saturday if we miss a week day," Kyoko replied. "But I don't have to be there until nine."

"I would drop you off, but I'm sure that would cause a stir," Ren sighed. He hated that his fame got in the way of doing normal things for his girlfriend. "Aren't you almost done?"

"Yeah. Since I started late, I'm a year behind, but I'll be graduating this spring," Kyoko told him.

"So then you won't be the high school girl I have a crush on anymore," Ren chuckled. "Just the woman I have a crush on." Ren would rather she became his girlfriend, but knowing Kyoko that didn't look promising. Right now it felt like they were a couple, but he hadn't discussed it with her at all and he wasn't sure now would be the right time to do so.

Kyoko blushed.

At that moment she looked so cute that Kuon had to know what she felt, overriding any sense that his Ren persona had. "Unless you'd say we're dating right now."

Kyoko rolled over, refusing to look at him. "We're not really going on dates," she said softly. "We're just staying at your place."

"Would you like to go on a date then? I'm sure we could take a day at some point to go to Tokyo Disneyland," Ren said.

He watched as Kyoko shook her head into her pillow. "I wouldn't want to cause a scandal."

"I wouldn't mind a scandal if it was with you," he said without any hint of flirtation. "Still, I know that it would be hard on you at this point in your career, so it would be best to avoid anything. Maybe we could go as the Heel siblings?"

"No!" Kyoko's muffled yelp came from her side of the bed.

"Well, then. It looks like we'll have to stay in for our dates," Ren replied. He wanted to see the blush that Kyoko was likely hiding with the pillow, but unlike Kuon he wouldn't take desperate measures to see it.

Kyoko lifted her head and turned it back in Ren's direction. "I don't know if I can come here until after the Grateful Party, though. Maria and I need every bit of our free time to work on the planning since we started a bit late this year."

"Maybe after that we can find a day or two for a date. It would be easier if I could take you to the Disneyland near my parents," Ren sighed. "No one in America knows us well enough to follow and take pictures."

"I know Mom and Dad want me to visit," Kyoko replied.

"But how would we get the time off without talking to Lory and Yashiro? They would get suspicious," Ren pointed out.

"Maybe we can get Dad or Mom to arrange it with them for us. It would be a lot less suspicious that way," Kyoko suggested.

"How do we do that without making them suspicious?"

"Maybe you could tell Mom that you wanted to reconnect with her?"

"That might work." He started getting out of bed. "But for now we need to worry about getting you to school."

Kyoko turned to look at the clock – it was already eight. She jumped out of bed and began to get ready. There were only three weeks to get through before her birthday, and therefore there were three weeks before she could see Ren like this again. She hoped it would fly by, just as her morning in bed had.

* * *

 **A/N:** Next time, the Grateful Party!


	9. The Prelude to the Party

**Try Me**

 **A/N:** Well, it seems people do read these for plot. I know from the beginning, some readers were expecting a lot of smut, but I feel like this couple isn't one to be horndogs as soon as they start admitting their feelings. There will be some citrus, but not a lot, and it will be later.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Skip Beat

* * *

 **The Prelude to the Party**

Ren was planning to sleep until noon. He had had Christmas special tapings the whole day before, and now on Christmas Eve he only had an afternoon radio interview and one variety show afterwards before the Grateful Party was to begin. That meant he was going to spend the morning in bed, doing nothing but sleep, until he was absolutely forced to get up.

Unfortunately for him, around eight his phone began to ring. Groggily, he picked it up, hoping Yashiro hadn't been cruel enough to add something else to his schedule for the day.

"Hello?"

"I'm at your door. Would you let me in?" The voice was feminine and spoke in English, but his brain was too tired to register who it was.

"Who is it?" Ren asked for clarification.

"You know who I am," the voice replied.

"How did you get my number?"

"I got it from Lory's directory when I saw him last night," the voice explained.

Ren immediately knew who it was – his mom. He rolled out of bed and marched over to the door to let his mom in. He wasn't enthusiastic to see her (he would be forced to do it later), but it would look bad if a married foreign star was seen waiting at his door in the morning.

When the door opened, Julie swooped through and hugged her son. Upon seeing him she began to cry. He felt her tears soaking into his shirt.

"Kuon?"

"Mom," he said softly, finally acknowledging her again.

That was when he felt the many heavy things swinging against his back. He pried her arms off of him so he could see what the objects were. When her arms came back into view, he realized she was carrying no fewer than ten shopping bags. A couple were simple plastic drug store bags, while others were from department stores and designer brands.

Julie walked into his living room and set all the bags down but one. The one she still held was one of the two drug store bags. "Kuu told me that you have bad eating habits now, so I took it upon myself to bring you some breakfast." Sure enough, a cup of yogurt and a bowl of berries and granola came out of the bag along with hard boiled eggs. She set them on the coffee table and directed him towards the food.

"So, what do you have to do today?" Julie asked her son. She knew one thing, but not if he had anything else.

"Just a radio interview at one and a variety show taping at three. Then I'm going to go to the Grateful Party."

"Do you know your father's on the same show?"

"He is?" Ren was dreading that. There was a reason they never met – they looked like father and son.

"Yeah! But I don't know if you'll be on screen together," Julie assured him. "They had asked for a pre-taped segment but his other interviews got in the way so they're having him coming in today."

"I haven't seen you do anything here, and you've been here two days." Ren knew his mother wasn't as popular in Japan, but she did get attention for being Kuu's wife.

"I went fabric shopping and had a spa day. I'm treating this as a vacation."

"Then more of that today?"

"No, I'm going to watch you and Kuu at the variety show, then I'm going to get ready for the Grateful Party. I still need to wrap Kyoko's birthday present."

"Then what are all of those?" Ren asked her, indicating the bags that were sitting on the couch.

"Oh, well, they're for Kyoko, and there's a few things for you, but they're not her birthday present."

"Then what are they?"

"Just things to help the two of you out."

"In what way?" If he hadn't been suspicious about his mother's motivations when she'd suggested to Kyoko that the two spend time naked together, he was certainly suspicious now.

"Even if you two aren't dating, I know she comes here to practice scenes with you. So I figured it would be best to prevent a scandal."

"With shopping?" Ren was skeptical.

"When you see what I bought, you'll understand," Julie responded.

"Can I see them now?" Ren asked, an angry smile crossing his face.

"No, not until you've finished breakfast." Julie had gone into full mom mode now that Kuon (or at least Ren) was finally talking with her again.

"Please?" Ren made his most pathetic puppy face, acting like her son once more.

"Kuon, you know that doesn't work now that you're an adult. Even if I do miss you being my son greatly."

"Are you sure? I'll come visit you for a week as soon as possible," Ren offered.

"No. I only want you to come back when you want to, not when you're only doing it for your personal gain."

Ren looked away from her. He picked up the spoon she had brought him and began to eat his breakfast quickly, hoping to figure out what his mother was trying to achieve. While he ate, Julie told him about what she had been up to since he left (including that she had been following his career). He laughed as she brought him up to speed on the latest Hollywood gossip. He was happy to not hear his name in it any more.

Once he put his spoon down, Julie stopped talking and got up. She picked up the remaining shopping bags and left in the direction of the bedrooms. He watched in horror as he opened the doors to various rooms until she found his bedroom and went inside. She set all of the bags on his bed.

Ren's horror increased as he watched her pull a small wardrobe worth of clothes out of the various shopping bags. There were two pairs of designer shoes, a Louis Vuitton handbag, jewelry, Chanel sunglasses, dresses (of a style Kyoko would find too daring to wear), a coat, underwear, make-up, and even a hat. He couldn't speak as his mother moved around the clothes in his closet to put Kyoko's away. Thankfully, only two bags were left – one from the drug store, and one department store bag.

Out of the department store bag came two sets of flannel pajamas – one pink and one grey. "I bought you two matching pajamas! That was more for fun than anything else," Julie told Ren. "Kuu and I also got new sets, so maybe we can all be matching when you visit." Kuon groaned, remembering his mother's strange obsession with Pajama-gram Christmas photos.

The same bag also revealed a short, silk, lacy nightgown. "I know some women prefer nightgowns, so I had to get her at least one," Julie explained. Ren wondered if she couldn't have gotten Kyoko a more modest nightgown. Sure enough, the last pajama set (sweat pants and a loose t-shirt) was much more modest. "And some women prefer to have comfortable pajamas, particularly for that time of the month." Julie winked, Ren groaned. He did not need to hear that, especially from his mother's mouth.

"Why does she need pajamas?"

"I know she stays over after practice sometimes, so I figured she'd want pajamas so you wouldn't take advantage of her and force her to sleep in one of her shirts."

"How do you know any of this will fit?"

"I have my ways," Julie said cryptically.

"What ways?"

"I asked the talent division for her measurements before I went shopping."

Of course his mom would do that, Ren thought. She was not to be defeated by such small details when she was on a mission.

"Oh, I got her a toothbrush and hairbrush as well for that." Julie opened the drug store bag and brought it into his bathroom.

"I thought you said this was to prevent scandal, not encourage it."

"Well not the pajamas or this stuff, that's more looking out for Kyoko's interests when she stays here."

"Why are you putting it in my room? She sleeps in the guest room."

"If Kuu visits again, where do you think he'll look for her clothes? You can give them to her when she comes over."

Ren had to admit, his mother had a good point.

"The scandal prevention part is the other clothes," Julie said.

Now this, Ren was entirely confused about. "How so?"

"When reporters are looking for scandals, they look for celebrities. They know what their targets look like, and you know they know how Kyoko dresses. I bought clothes far more expensive and in different cuts than she likes. She'll look like any young heiress living in a luxury apartment building, not the actress Kyoko Mogami," Julie explained. Ren had to admit it was a genius idea, though he wondered if her hair would give her away.

"It's not perfect, though."

"No, but it will work well enough. Probably even better if you get her a good wig to use and she does her make-up differently as well, but it will work until her face is more recognizable."

"Anything else you need to do in my room?" Ren wanted to get dressed for the day now that it was getting closer to time to leave.

"Of course not," Julie smiled. "Just this. I know you probably won't need them soon, as Kyoko's a modest girl, but you never know and it's scandal prevention 101 to have them." She held up a box of his favorite condom brand, in his size and placed it in the drawer of his nightstand. Ren didn't want to know how or why she knew that.

Ren practically pushed his mom out of his room and flopped on the bed, thoroughly embarrassed in a way he hadn't been in years.

* * *

Ren had dropped Julie off at LME before going to his radio interview. It felt too soon to see her again when she showed up backstage at the variety show. Of course, she was attached at the hip to his father, which saved him from any interaction with her (for now). So far, he had nothing to worry about.

He had something to worry about when the host of the show had them on the same team for a game. When the teams were announced, the usual banter began, and with Ren and Kuu standing next to each other, of course their similarities had to be brought up.

"You too look a lot alike," one host exclaimed. "Well, minus the coloring."

"And Tsuruga-san has the same birthday as Kuu's son, down to the year," the other host replied. "Are you sure you're not him, Tsuruga-san?"  
Ren used every last drop of his acting ability in order to keep a straight face. He even managed to turn his breath catching into a quiet laugh.

"Actually," Kuu said. "That's why he was hired!"

"Really?" A host asked.

"Yeah. The boss at LME – Lory – is a rather eccentric guy. After making it through the auditions for talent, all of LME's talents are expected to do a final audition for him. I remember the day of Ren-kun's audition because Lory called me right after, saying he'd just auditioned a young talent that would surpass me," Kuu explained. "So I asked him how he knew. Lory told me that the actor had a scary number of similarities to me, and that he felt that meant the actor would be a must-have at his agency."

"So they key to getting a job at LME is to be like Kuu?"

"It worked for me," Ren laughed. "Actually, I didn't know that story until tonight."

"You haven't met Kuu?"

"Only in passing," Kuu replied.

"Did we even greet each other?" Ren asked. "Or did I just stare, shocked to see Hizuri Kuu nearby?"

"Right, that was when you were playing Katsuki, so you'd probably been watching me on screen quite a bit," Kuu practically bragged.

"That's another similarity between you two," the second host pointed out. "You were both Katsukis. Did LME's boss force that role on you, Tsuruga-san?"

"No, he actually didn't want me to take it. If he hired me because I was like Kuu, he sure doesn't want me to follow his path," Ren smiled. He knew it was one Kyoko would label malicious, and (more importantly) one his father would recognize as well.

The hosts moved on to the other teams, and the game went smoothly. After the game, Ren and Kuu sat with the panel watching comedians play more games and idols getting pranked. That took almost no effort. All Ren needed to do was have an interesting reaction and explain it if the hosts found his reaction funny. Even then, he wasn't the focus of the hosts' attention as much as many of the comedians and idols – actors were never the focus of panel shows, more set dressing to draw viewers after the focused interview.

Behind stage, Ren and Kuu said professional goodbyes, and they ended up leaving separately to get dressed for the Grateful Party. Now he would have to prepare to see them in a more intimate setting – one where there would be no media and people who knew their secret. It was time to go to his apartment and dress for battle.

* * *

 **A/N:** I've planned literally nothing out about the next chapter, so it might take a while. Luckily, I'm very far ahead on the homework grind, so it should all work out.


	10. The Party

**Try Me**

 **A/N:** Slowly but surely this chapter came along… It's gonna be very long.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Skip Beat

* * *

 **The Party**

Ren looked himself in the mirror before going out. This year the Grateful Party was a masquerade, so he had to find a costume. He ended up sneaking into massive LME's costume storage area and stole a prince costume and a fairy wing mask (actual costume wings would be cumbersome in a crowd). Unfortunately, he couldn't dye his hair or remove his contacts for the night, but he knew Kyoko would understand.

Rolling up to the party, he was surprised to find himself arriving at the same time as Kyoko's landlords. While a valet took Ren's car away, they waited for him to walk in together.

"Good evening, Tsuruga-san," the Okami greeted him.

"Good evening, Okami-san, Taisho-san."

The Taisho grumbled, clearly not pleased to see him.

Okami leaned in, clearly trying to whisper in his ear. He leaned down so she could reach. "He's upset that Kyoko's been spending time at your apartment. He's very protective of her, but I'm sure you're not doing anything wrong."

Clearly aware of what his wife was saying, Taisho released a grunt. It worked as intended, sending a warning to Ren.

"Mostly she forces me to eat," Ren laughed. "She's a very good cook, making my normal habit of skipping meals impossible to stick to. I believe she's even tried a few of your recipes, all of which were superb."

This time the Taisho's grunt was more one of acknowledgment, as if to thank Ren for his compliment.

They looked up, only to notice they had reached the door of the party. This year, their arrivals were not announced by their names, but rather what they were dressed as. Taisho and Okami both had fish masks, representing their work at the restaurant. He was half afraid that he would be announced as "Corn," but thankfully they just said "a fairy."

Ren walked around with the Okami and Taisho for several minutes, trying to stir up friendly conversation. Both refused the flutes of champagne he wanted to grab him, but watched as he got one. He didn't down it like he wanted to, and instead took gentle sips to seem more respectable to them.

As they wandered, greeting acquaintances and guests, Ren kept an eye out for individuals that could get between him and Kyoko at the end of the night. Maria (dressed as a princess) was helping Kyoko (currently in a chef's uniform) bring out appetizers for the guests. Yashiro (not bothering with a costume and wearing a plain mask) was chatting with several other managers, all of whom seemed very drunk for so early in the night. Kanae (a cat) and Chiori (a rabbit) were sitting by a window, talking to a few actors Ren recognized but could not name. Saena (also not in costume) was standing by a window, watching her daughter work with the most subtle look of pride Ren had ever seen. Lory (a ringmaster) was sitting on a dais, watching over the party. Instead of a cigar he held a wine glass. Kuu and Julie were still nowhere to be seen.

"Shouldn't you be greeting your fellow actors?" the Okami asked him.

"I'll have plenty of time for that. It seems a few are a bit busy getting drunk, so I wouldn't want to interrupt him," Ren joked. Of course Kijima came up just as he said that and whisked him off to a table where most of LME's male actors had gathered. He tried to pull himself away, but he couldn't. At least they weren't forcing him to drink copious amounts. Listening to their stories of debauchery and idiotic life choices made Ren lose track of time – much better he tune everything out then listen and wait for his brain to rot.

Suddenly, one drunken actor turned and drew the attention of his comrades to the entrance. "Is that Kuu?"

"Hizuri?" Another drunken actor asked. "I mean, he's good friends with Lory and all, but isn't Kyoko the one who does the invitations?"

"Yeah, who knows…"

Ren craned his head, trying to get a good look to see if it really was his father or not. Unfortunately, it was. Even worse, they were dressed as Titania and Oberon. Ren groaned. Of course they would be matching him, because they wanted to match Kyoko, who would certainly want to dress as a fairy princess.

"Ren!" Kijima yelled, obviously too drunk to keep his voice down or refer to his friend properly. "Go see if it is them."

Now that Ren had an excuse to leave, he did, though not to see his parents. He offered a quick greeting to Chiori and Kanae on his way to find Kyoko.

"Tsuruga-san!" Kyoko greeted, her face lighting up upon seeing him.

By now it was nearly ten (he had no idea why his parents were so late – he assumed Julie's make-up was the reason, but it was more likely that they "distracted" each other), so he was surprised to see that Kyoko was still clothed in her chef's uniform. "Shouldn't you be enjoying your party, Mogami-san?"

She shook her head. "There's still a lot of things to bring out." Ren knew that for the second year in a row they would have to force her to change into her party clothes.

"No there isn't," a feminine voice came. Ren immediately knew it was Julie, and not because she spoke in English. "You're coming with me."

"J-Julie-san!"

"No 'But, Mom' here, Kyoko. We're going," Julie said. She grabbed Kyoko's hand and dragged her off to who-knows-where to get ready for midnight. Ren hoped it wouldn't take the whole two hours, but knowing his mother's idea of "getting ready," it probably would.

"You, too, Ren. You're not going to sulk here waiting for Kyoko, are you?" It was his father.

"No, I was just going to go greet Lory."

"Bullshit. You're coming with me," Kuu told his son. Ren was half worried that his father planned to "get him ready" for the party in some way he couldn't fathom. That wasn't what happened. Ren found himself back at the table of drunken actors, this time closer to Lory and even more intoxicated. This way, they could all suck up to Kuu while he drank and caught up with Lory. And, with a drunk Lory and Kuu talking to each other, things were bound to come out.

"So, guess what Ren-kun's current project is?" Lory was slurring, indicating he was further gone than Ren had probably ever seen him.

"Kyoko's love interest?"

"With a sex scene!"

"Where is that idiot? I'm going to kill him before he lays a hand on my son," Kuu proclaimed.

"Oh, you don't need to worry," Lory drunkenly assured his friend. "Ren would never touch Kyoko – he's too much of a wimp."

"I don't know about that."

"Well, Kyoko's more of a wimp," Lory replied.

"No she isn't! Don't say that about my son." If Ren was disturbed by their drunken conversation, he was even more disturbed by the confused looks on his fellow actors' faces. Hopefully they were so drunk they wouldn't remember what they'd heard in the morning to ask him about.

"Yes she is. She's admitted to me that she loves him, and she goes to his apartment at least once a week to cook for him, and yet nothing! All of my attempts for naught! I've forced her to care for him when he was sick, had her bond with his father, even got her to act out a pseudo-incestuous relationship with him while wearing skimpy clothes and sharing a hotel room, and NOTHING!"

Ren gulped. His father would hate that last part. Hopefully he was also drunk enough to ignore it. He could see that his father had something else on his mind.

"Well, I found a Kyoko-sized pink robe in his bathroom when I visited, so that's something," Kuu said. "But I bet he's just keeping it there for when they do start dating. So, never."

"Interesting. But still nothing." Lory suggested.

"Maybe he uses it," Kuu replied, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Ren slammed his head on the table, hating where the conversation was going.

"Not like you didn't like to buy Julie clothes before you two were dating," Lory told Kuu. "I swear I thought you were either gay or masturbating to clothes she'd never even worn."

"You're disgusting. She totally wore those clothes for me. In the bedroom. After we started dating," Kuu said.

Ren groaned. He looked for opportunities to escape from the crowd of disgustingly drunk men. If he could find Maria, he would be safe. No matter how drunk Kuu and Lory were, they had boundaries of their discussions, and those usually involved kids.

* * *

Kyoko didn't even get to talk to Julie before her adoptive mother began to pamper her. Julie had forced her out of the chef's uniform. Julie then had her daughter soak into a bath tub and threw in a pink glitter rose-scented bath bomb.

That was when Julie truly began to go to work. She set out a dress she had bought for Kyoko along with the matching rhinestoned mask and jewelry. On the vanity she placed a massive collection of hair and make-up products. Once she was sure her preparations were ready, she instructed Kyoko to towel off, put on underwear suitable for the dress, and get into a fluffy robe before leading the girl to a stool in front of the vanity. As Julie got to work on her hair and make-up, they began to talk.

"So, how's it going with Ku- Ren, Kyoko?"

"It's okay, I know," Kyoko replied.

Kyoko could see Julie's look of surprise in the mirror. "Did he tell you?"

"No. I guessed," Kyoko blushed, remembering the reason she guessed.

"Well, it's not what I was hoping, but I suppose it's okay," Julie said.

"What were you hoping for?"

"Him to tell you," Julie sighed. "Because if he was willing to tell you, I thought it would mean he was ready to come home. But enough of me, how are you?"

"Okay. I've been busy lately, getting ready for the movie and rushing to finish my current projects in time," Kyoko told her.

"You've been practicing with Kuon, right?"

Kyoko nodded, too embarrassed to say anything.

"I get it, it feels so awkward. Is it at least less terrible than it was at first?"

Kyoko nodded. "It's comfortable now, but I don't know if I can do it on set yet."

"It takes time," Julie agreed. "But you'll be fine. Being comfortable with your costar is the hardest part, since they're the one you're touching."

Kyoko contemplated this, staying silent.

"You'll be okay. Besides, you love him, right?"

Again Kyoko blushed. "Yes," she admitted quietly.

"It's okay to love him," Julie said. "Just take it at your own pace. I'm know Kuon's head over heels for you, so if you're not ready to be in a relationship yet, he'll be willing to wait as long as it takes."

"Thank you," Kyoko said.

"But since I know you two spend a lot of time together at his apartment, I made sure to leave some extra clothes and toiletries for you at his apartment. That way neither of you has to worry about it."

"You're too kind, Julie."

"You're my daughter. What wouldn't I do for you? I've always wanted a daughter to dress up and talk about boys with."

"You won't tell Lory or Kuu about this?"

"I know how crazy they are about you and Ren. It's a bit creepy. Of course I'll keep this quiet from them. Well, as long as you keep me in the loop. Otherwise I might need to ask Lory what's going on."

Kyoko shivered, afraid Julie would hold to her word.

"I'm just kidding. I'd only ask general questions about how you're doing. Besides, what kind of mother would I be if I didn't keep her secrets from her overprotective father?" Julie winked. "And no way would I tell Lory. You should've seen what he did as soon as he found out Kuu was dating me."

Kyoko shivered.

A knock on the door interrupted their conversation.

"Come in," Julie cooed.

To Kyoko's surprise, her mother walked through the door.

"Julie," Saena greeted her. "I was wondering where you took Kyoko."

"Oh, just for a little pampering," Julie said. "A girl shouldn't be working at her own party!"

Saena seemed a bit confused at the concept, but didn't question it out loud.

"Oh, Kyoko, I'm sorry I didn't tell you," Julie said. "When I came here I asked Saena out to lunch. I'd heard you two made up, so I felt it was prudent to meet my competition."

Saena frowned, as if to remind Julie that she was not competition for Kyoko's affections. While she and Kyoko had come to an understanding, she preferred to stand and watch Kyoko from a distance as opposed to doting on her like Julie did.

"By 'lunch,' she means making me cancel all of my afternoon meetings to go shopping and discuss a potential line of clothing for professional women at the most exclusive spa in Tokyo," Saena replied in Japanese.

Kyoko giggled, knowing from Kuon's stories that Julie tended to act like that around people while getting to know them.

Julie looked Saena up and down with a critical eye. "And _why_ aren't you dressed for the party?"

"I came here to see Kyoko's hard work, not for the party," Saena replied. "So I didn't feel it necessary to wear a mask."

"We'll fix that," Julie told Saena. "I know you don't care much for Kyoko, but she's your daughter. At least play along." Julie marched over to another bag and pulled out a simple black and maroon mask to match Saena's modest black dress. She shoved it into Saena's hands and didn't give an opportunity for the woman to refuse.

"Are you done?" Saena asked, anxious to get back to the party. "It's eleven. Lory wanted me to remind you that Maria should be in bed soon."

"Tell him I'll hurry up then," Julie said. Kyoko knew she had no intention of doing so, particularly for Saena. Despite their meeting, it appeared Julie still disliked her.

"Of course." Saena left, leaving Kyoko to Julie's beauty treatment.

* * *

Ren was pacing. He had been forced to have a few flutes of champagne, but somehow he still managed to stay relatively sober. Unfortunately, relatively sober was not sober. That meant he was still a bit impaired in dealing with his emotions, which right now included annoyance that he hadn't gotten to see Kyoko yet. Surely his mother knew it was eleven thirty and Lory as anxious to get Maria and Kyoko's birthday cake brought out so his granddaughter could go to bed.

Ren considered intimidating his father into dragging his mother away from his girlfriend (well not really girlfriend, more like friend with very limited benefits if he was being honest). He found it too funny to watch his father desperately ignoring the flowing alcohol (he insisted he didn't want to be too drunk to remember Kyoko's birthday), so he didn't want to interrupt.

Suddenly, the lights went out. A single spotlight shined at the top of the stairs where Maria was standing. Now it was time for cake. Lory was too much of an entertainer to rush something along in his impatience. He saw Kyoko emerge from the doors at the top of the staircase. She truly looked like a fairy princess with her pink and green dress and the expensive jewelry that accompanied it.

Underneath the stairs a massive pink cake appeared. Two waiters brought smaller cakes with candles up the stairs to the birthday girls. Lory prompted the string quartet he'd hired to play Happy Birthday and the crowd sang along. They all cheered as Kyoko and Maria blew out their candles.

Two more workers brought massive, throne-like chairs up to the platform so the girls could sit down. Their cakes and forks were put on a table between the thrones so that guests could come up for well wishes and to give presents if they wished to do so.

Ren approached the stairs to get to his princess, but found his parents rushing to Kyoko's throne first. Surprisingly, Saena followed directly behind them with a present of her own. He figured he could wait for a more private moment to give his gift as the line to see Kyoko grew. For now, he would deliver Maria's gift.

Kyoko sat and watched as the pile of presents and cards for her grew. Her eyes lit up as Kuu and Julie approached her. Kuu handed her an envelope while Julie handed her a box.

"Open it," Kuu insisted. Kyoko hadn't opened any of the presents intended for her yet.

"Should I?"

"We want to see your reaction," Julie insisted. "It's normal in America to open the gifts in front of whoever gave them to you."

Reluctantly, Kyoko started by opening the large box Julie had given her. She squealed as she looked inside. "It's beautiful!" Ren saw Kyoko pull a pink, white, and gold jewelry box out of the wrapping. She placed it on her lap and reached up to hug Julie. Kuu leaned in to join in the group hug.

"Now the envelope," Kuu exclaimed, way too excited for Kyoko to view its contents. That made Ren worried about what could be inside.

Kyoko ripped it open and pulled out the card inside. She opened the card and gasped. "I can't possibly accept this!"

"Yes you can, and you will," Kuu replied sternly.

"But – it's too much," she pleaded.

"No, it's not. It's just enough for a round trip ticket to Los Angeles to come visit us, along with a little extra for a couple days at Disneyland," Julie explained.

Kyoko blushed.

"We didn't know your schedule, so we gave you the money to book the trip on your own," Julie said. "But we're expecting you to come visit in the next couple of months. We've already discussed it with Lory so that he wouldn't fill up your schedule."

"Well, we should leave you to your other presents," Kuu said. He figured Kyoko would have to agree if she had no time to debate it.

After a few more coworkers dropped off cards for her, Kyoko saw her mother approach the throne. She was surprised that her mother had gotten her three presents. She could guess that two were books, but she didn't know what the third one was.

As Julie and Kuu had insisted, Saena also asked Kyoko to open her presents at the party. Kyoko wasn't sure she should do it, but decided to follow her mother's wishes.

The first book was a book explaining English colloquialisms. "To help when you go to America," Saena said. The second book was a very thick cookbook that included recipes from all over the world. "I know you know Japanese recipes by heart, but I thought you would like the challenge of expanding your horizons."

"Thank you," Kyoko said. She wondered if she should try to make her mother a salad for lunch one day. Certainly Ren would be happy that she would be learning American recipes to make for him.

"And the third?" Saena asked, anxious to get away. Being cordial to her daughter was still very difficult for her, and that included giving her daughter gifts.

Kyoko's fingers fumbled with the small box for the third present. It looked like a jewelry box, but she knew her mother didn't like to spend money on frivolous things. She opened it to find a gift card to a department store. "I don't know what you like, so I wanted you to get something for yourself."

Kyoko nodded. "Thank you."

Saena started walking away, but Kyoko's voice made her pause. "Can – can I have your phone number? I'd like to bring you lunch at work some time."

Saena's face expressed shock at Kyoko's suggestion, but she grabbed Kyoko's hand so that she could punch her number into Kyoko's directory before leaving.

Ren watched anxiously as the last few well-wishers greeted Kyoko. Finally, she was done and began to eat her cake. Ren decided that it was the right time to approach her. Most of the guests were now too intoxicated to care or were leaving the party for the night, so he figured that there would be few people watching his actions.

"Mogami-san," he said, still concerned about Lory and his parents.

"Tsuruga-san," Kyoko replied, a tired smile on her face.

"Happy Birthday, princess," he congratulated her, hoping that anyone who heard thought he was referring to her costume. His heart began to beat rapidly as he handed her the bouquet and present he had gotten for her.

"Should I open it?"

"Of course."

Kyoko opened it and gasped. Inside was a pair of earrings and a necklace. Each were decorated with roses delicately carved out of water sapphires. The chain of the necklace was gold and assembled in a way that made it look like a vine, with tiny blue stones at the junction of the gold leaves.

Kyoko leapt up from her seat and hugged him. He spun her around once before putting her back down. Ren hoped that no one had managed to snap a picture – that could go wrong easily, but he wished he had a copy for his phone. Maybe the official party photographer could be bribed to give him the only copies.

"Get your hands off my son," a voice said behind him. It was Kuu.

Ren jumped away from Kyoko.

"I'm just kidding. Julie and I are going to go to bed now," Kuu said. He reached down to give Kyoko a spinning hug of his own before giving her over to Julie for a hug.

"Don't be afraid to call us when you need us," Julie said. "We'll see you again soon, I'm sure. We love you, Kyoko!"

"I- I love you too," Kyoko said as she blushed. "I'll see you soon."

Someday Ren hoped she would be able to say the same to him in public. For now, he could pretend she just did.

* * *

 **A/N:** The end! (Of that chapter) I'm going on vaca so I don't know when the next chapter will be up.


	11. The Date

**Try Me**

 **A/N:** This chapter is gonna try to be cute.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Skip Beat

* * *

 **The Date**

Kyoko was preparing to go in to work. Although she had no formal work, she expected to be needed for the LoveMe section. Also, she had taken yesterday (her birthday) off, so she wanted to make herself useful. While she was brushing her teeth, a text came in. She went to grab her phone and read the ominous message: "Let me in!"

Initially taken aback, Kyoko checked who the message was from. It was Jelly. She though, trying to figure out why the heck the make-up artist would be there. As far as Kyoko knew, Cain and Setsu's jobs were long over, and there was no other job she'd need such a disguise for. Still, she couldn't leave anyone out in the cold that early in the morning, so she let Jelly in.

"Oh, thank god," Jelly said. "It's cold out today."  
Kyoko didn't want to be rude, so she didn't ask why Jelly was there. "Do you want any tea?"

"No, now come on, someone's waiting for you." Jelly ushered Kyoko up the stairs to her room.

"Who?" Kyoko tried to ask.

"He wants to keep it a surprise."

Kyoko sat dumbfounded as Jelly began her transformation. Jelly had put blue contacts into Kyoko's eyes and a long light brown wig onto her head. She did Kyoko's make-up in a way that made her look less Japanese and more European. The clothes she gave Kyoko were all American brands and styles – thick black yoga pants, slightly worn sheepskin boots, a loose long-sleeved sweater, and a black winter coat. Although there was no way to make her look entirely foreign, Jelly certainly had done a good enough job to fool most people she would see on the street.

"He said he wanted you to look like a tourist from America, so I did what I could," Jelly sighed. "Maybe you could pass for Asian American, but never the Japanese idea of American."

Kyoko blinked, wondering what she was talking about.

"By the way, I put the wig down as well as I could, but I don't think it would be able to survive roller coasters or anything, so don't do anything too wild," Jelly advised cryptically.

Jelly checked her watch and dragged Kyoko back down the stairs, not letting the girl bring her wallet. Kyoko's cell phone and keys were conveniently tucked into pockets of her coat, but Kyoko worried that she would need money.

Outside of the Daruma-ya, a nondescript sedan sat. Jelly got into the front seat and indicated that Kyoko should get into the back.

Kyoko looked across the seat to see who the mysterious person that requested Jelly's services was, only to be greeted by one Kuon. He had apparently dyed his hair back to its natural color for the day and hadn't put in any contacts, leaving his true eye color visible.

She opened her mouth to greet him, but he put a finger to his lips, as if to remind her that Jelly did not know his real name.

"Good morning," Ren greeted her in English.

"Good morning," Kyoko replied in Japanese.

"Can we speak English today?" Ren requested in English.

"Why?" Kyoko asked. It wasn't that she didn't want to – it's that she could see no need for doing so beyond what she was wearing.

"I wanted to celebrate your birthday with you uninterrupted, so I figured it would be best to wear disguises," Ren explained.

"Like characters?"

"Normally that would be a good idea," Ren said. "But I wanted to spend the day with you, not a character."

"You're too sappy, Ren," Jelly called from the front seat.

"Isn't it normal to want to celebrate a friend's birthday with her?"

"No," Jelly said. She assumed it was one of Ren's less subtle attempts to get Kyoko to notice him in a romantic light. She listened to them chat awkwardly in the back. Ren was trying to keep their destination a secret, but Jelly could tell that Kyoko's questions were getting to him. Jelly was happy when they finally arrived.

Kyoko left the car with Kuon following soon behind. "Have fun," Jelly cooed and waved. Now she could go report to Lory why Ren had requested to have his schedule cleared on a day that Kyoko also had the day off.

Once they had gotten out, Kyoko's eyes lit up.

"Are you ready to go in?" Ren asked.

"You got tickets?"

"Yes."

With that, Kuon led Kyoko through the gates of Tokyo Disneyland.

"Where do you want to go first?" Kuon asked. He'd used English, as he had suggested earlier.

Kyoko looked at the map she held and immediately began walking towards Fantasyland. Kyoko led them right into the castle that held Cinderella's hall. Ren couldn't help but put on a pleased smile as he watched her dance around in awe. When she noticed the actress dressed as Cinderella she immediately got in line to meet her. He made sure to take a few pictures of her hugging Cinderella and talking to her. It amazed him that in her excitement she could keep up the act of not speaking Japanese.

After an attendant finally shuffled Kyoko away from Cinderella, Ren took her to the teacups ride. They ended up spinning it too fast, so Ren felt nauseous when they got off. Kyoko had offered to get him water (forgetting her wallet was at home), but he began to feel better after sitting down on a bench. To add injury to insult, Kyoko made him go on it's a small world afterwards – his most hated ride. Kyoko's excitement made it somewhat more tolerable, but he wouldn't agree for a second trip. Dumbo and Peter Pan were more tolerable, but still a bit boring.

"What do you want to do next, Kuon?" Kyoko asked him. Finally, it was his turn.

"The Haunted Mansion," he replied.

"H- haunted?"

"It's not actually haunted, it's fun," Ren explained, trying to placate her. "If you get scared you can always close your eyes."

Kyoko nodded warily as Ren led her to the queue for the ride.

Suddenly, Ren heard a voice. "Where are you from?" It asked. Ren turned to see that it was the man ahead of them in line. The man looked American enough, and his accent suggested he was.

"Los Angeles," Kuon replied instinctively. He hadn't discussed a cover story with Kyoko because he was afraid she would turn it into a character, but they should have discussed what lies they would tell in a case like this.

"Oh really? Where?"

"Out by Santa Monica," Kuon said. "We both attend UCLA."

"No way! I went to USC back in the day. I suppose that means we're rivals, right?"

Kuon looked over to Kyoko, trying to see if she was confused or not. She did a good job of maintaining an interested expression without showing too much confusion.

"I suppose so," Kuon replied. He hoped that the man wouldn't ask about sports. He'd never really cared about them, since neither of his parents went to college or played sports. They went to games for appearances, but Ren had never paid much attention. He tried to turn the conversation. "Why did you come to Tokyo this time of year? It's cold," Kuon asked.

"It was the only time I could get off work. It's school break for you, right?"

"Yeah," he said. "And flights were cheap." Ren looked up, noticing they were up to the front of the line. The conversation would be over soon.

"So, what are you studying?" The man asked.

To Ren's surprise, Kyoko answered. "I'm studying English." She was good at English, but Ren knew that her accent was somewhat noticeable.

"I'm studying business," Ren replied. It was something boring and innocuous enough that no one would ask any further questions like they would for Law or Medicine. There would also be no jokes for Kyoko to miss due to her lack of knowledge about American culture.

"Maybe I'll see you at work soon, then," the man replied. He went onto the ride. Thankfully, Ren and Kyoko were stopped from entering and now stood at the front of the line. When they got on the ride, Ren delighted in the fact that Kyoko would occasionally grab his sleeve or hand when she was scared. Unfortunately, she would always pull her hand right back, but it was a small sign that she was able to trust him enough.

Soon enough, it was time for lunch – the lines had eaten up a lot of their time. While Kyoko tried to convince Ren to get healthy food, they ended up eating corndogs and apple slices.

After lunch, they tried to go on gentler rides – the Jungle Cruise, the Tiki Room, and Astroblasters. The final ride of their afternoon was Pirates of the Caribbean, another one of Ren's favorites. Per Kyoko's request, they also watched the parade.

By the time they were done with the parade, it was time for dinner. Kyoko was confused when Ren led her to a nondescript door near the entrance to the park and knocked in what seemed to be a specific pattern. The door opened and a man dressed as a butler let them inside. There, they were brought into a fancy dining room.

"Where are we?" Kyoko whispered, hoping not to disturb the other guests she saw.

"Club 33. It's an exclusive restaurant for members of the club. My parents were given a membership a long time ago due to their celebrity status, so I asked Mom to get me in today," Kuon explained. "Lory has a membership as well, but he isn't trustworthy enough. I'm sure he'd alert the staff here that we were coming so that they could report back to him."

Kyoko couldn't disagree.

Before they left, a waiter approached them. "Mr. Hizuri, would you like a picture in front of Cinderella's castle? It is complementary tonight."

Ren looked at Kyoko, but did not ask her. She nodded enthusiastically.

After a photographer guided them through back hallways and crowds to get them to the picture location, he instructed them how to pose. While she was nervous to pose with his arms around her, Kyoko figured an American couple would naturally pose this way. To keep up her disguise, she allowed it. She wasn't expecting him to reach down to kiss her cheek, and she certainly wasn't expecting him to give her a full-on kiss on the lips for the next picture. The Japanese photographer seemed a bit surprised, but Kyoko knew he would just assume it was something Americans did.

The photographer ushered them back into an office, where he printed out the shots he had taken of them and put it into an album. He also handed them a USB drive so that they could keep the photographs on their computers (not that Kyoko had one). That made Kyoko slightly afraid of the possibility that Ren would make the kiss picture his phone's background. She knew he wouldn't due to Yashiro's propensity for stealing his phone, but didn't believe he wouldn't find a way to hide it from Yashiro.

They walked out of the park, hand-in-hand, to find the same nondescript sedan waiting for them. It drove them back to Ren's apartment, where Kyoko got out with him.

"I thought you were heading home," Ren suggested in Japanese.

Kyoko blushed. "Should I go?"

"You're more than welcome. I'll drive you home when you're ready," Ren offered. They rode the elevator back up to his apartment and settled in.

Tonight, they ended up watching a Disney princess movie while Ren helped Kyoko to remove her wig and make-up.

"Would you like to see what Mom got you?" Ren asked once the movie was finished.

Kyoko nodded, excited but nervous. She knew Julie was one to get her luxurious clothes Kyoko would never normally wear. The outfits Ren showed her certainly fit this assumption.

"Mom made sure they weren't things you would wear," Ren said.

"Why?"

"So paparazzi waiting outside the building wouldn't think it was you," Ren explained.

Kyoko's eyes widened, remembering Julie's words from the party. "Did she leave anything else?"

"There's the toiletries in the bathroom, and some pajamas."

"C-can I get some of the pajamas?" Kyoko asked.

"Are you sure you want to stay the night?"

"I'm sure," Kyoko said.

"The pajamas are in the top drawer in the closet. I need to go take a shower," Ren said. He began to take some of his clothes off in the closet, as was his habit, but then realized Kyoko was waiting there to get to the drawer. He ended up awkwardly going into the bathroom and undressing.

When he returned from his shower, he was shocked to see Kyoko in the slinky nightgown Julie had brought, lying asleep on his bed. He tried to pull the covers up over her before he slipped in to the opposite side of the bed, falling asleep himself.

* * *

Ren woke up at 6am to the sound of Kyoko in the kitchen. He didn't have to get up for another hour, but he decided to go check in on Kyoko. Now she was dressed in one of the dresses Julie had gotten her. It looked great on her, but he couldn't admit that to her without any embarrassment. He thought that was weird – that at this point, complementing her on her appearance would embarrass her more than seeing her naked. They weren't officially dating, but it felt like they were a couple.

As Kyoko turned around, she saw him and immediately dropped into a deep bow. "I'm sorry about falling asleep in your bed last night. I won't do it again!"  
"I hope you will," Ren replied as flirty as possible in his groggy state.

"Will what?"

"Fall asleep in my bed again."

Kyoko blushed and got up to turn back to her cooking. "I was being shameless," she said softly. In her tired state, she grabbed the first thing in the drawer, not noticing it was sexy.

Ren put his hand on her shoulder. "You think I care?" He asked, kissing her cheek. He was far too tired to institute a proper brain-to-mouth filter, so he said something he normally wouldn't have. "You're sexy. I'd love to have you in my bed every night."

When Kyoko's face turned bright red and she curled up into a ball in a corner, Ren woke up fully and realized he had made a mistake.

"I'm sorry – I shouldn't have said that."

"It's okay," Kyoko replied meekly. "I just- I just wasn't prepared for that." She stood up and looked him in the eye. "Just warn me before you act like a playboy again, Ren." Kyoko knew she would never get used to having the eyes of Japan's number one bachelor on her alone, but there were some aspects she would have to get used to – including his playboy tendencies. Technically they weren't dating, but yesterday _was_ a date, and Kyoko suspected there would be more soon.

"I'm going to get dressed," Ren told Kyoko. "Do you need a ride?"

"No," she said. "I'll call a taxi. I wouldn't want the disguises Julie bought for me ruined so soon."

Ren smiled. Kyoko was certainly getting more confident in her actions. He hoped that meant that her newfound confidence around him wasn't an act. "I'll see you at LME this week?"

"Of course," Kyoko said.

By the time he'd returned from getting dressed, she had already left. Only his breakfast provided evidence she'd been there.

* * *

 **A/N:** Moving closer to the grand finale now…


	12. The Reading

**Try Me**

 **A/N:** This will be a short chapter, but sets up the more citrusy stuff to come (which I've already started on).

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Skip Beat

* * *

 **The Reading**

On January 2nd, Kyoko walked through the halls of LME. The day before (much to her surprise), her mother had invited her over for a New Year's meal. As their previous meetings had been, it was rather awkward. They tried to act like mother and daughter, but the past weighed on their interactions. Still, it had been nice to eat with her mother, and for the first time there had been laughing and smiling. They had even watched a New Year's variety special together.

Now it was to something Kyoko found even more terrifying – the first read-through of the script for her new movie. If she thought what she had to do for the movie was intimidating, it was even more intimidating to see her fellow actors and actresses. She recognized most of them not because she actually knew them, but instead because they were all well-regarded as among the best actors working in Japan. A few had won awards, and one had even had a role in an award-winning Hollywood film. There were only two cast members she recognized aside from Ren: a girl she had auditioned against for Momiji and Murasame.

They went around the table for everyone to introduce themselves and read their roles. Only the actors, Director Ueda, and one producer sat at the table. Kyoko was thoroughly intimidated to have a seat at the table with the talent around her. Under the table, Ren patted her leg once to reassure her. The actress Kyoko's age would be playing her best friend, while Murasame had a small part as her classmate (and, later the coworker hired to replace her).

For the most part, the read-through went well. Kyoko took many notes on her script and tried to get a read on what her fellow actors and actresses would be doing. When they got to the love scene, everyone intently watched Kyoko and Ren. She could feel their eyes on her, but did her best to read the few lines they had gotten. As they read on, Kyoko realized more details had been added, making a couple other conversations take place in compromising positions. Still, she maintained a straight face, trying not to show her nervousness.

* * *

When the readthrough was done, Ueda stomped out and the producer handed each cast member, manager, and staff member present a detailed schedule of when they would be needed on set and when each scene would be filmed. Kyoko found she would be on set nearly every day, but Ren would only be on set about half of the time. He was doing another project at the same time, so that had affected the days he could be on set.

Kyoko gathered up her things to leave, but Murasame stopped her. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

"I don't think so," Kyoko lied. "But I'm looking forward to working with you." She bowed for extra effect before leaving the room.

Outside in the hallway, Kyoko and Ren found Director Konoe waiting for them. "I knew you two would be here today, so I wanted to meet with you. Do you have a minute?"

Murasame, who had followed them closely out, looked confused. Konoe gave a polite greeting, but pulled Kyoko and Ren off to another meeting room for more secrecy.

"Is everything alright?" Ren asked.

"Yes, definitely," Konoe responded. "But I had a question for you two."

Ren had an idea what it was about, but Kyoko was obviously confused.

"Since the movie did well, I thought it would be good to release your identity with the DVD release," Konoe said.

"Only if it's just my identity," Ren replied. "I figure it would be best if Setsu's identity was kept a mystery. After all, she did me a favor, so I wouldn't want to cause a scandal."

"She wasn't advertised with the movie, so it should be possible to keep that quiet," Konoe said.

"Thank you," Kyoko said.

"But, I do think we should release your identity to the cast. We don't have to if you don't want to," Konoe said.

Kyoko looked up at Ren, waiting to see what he would say.

"I would still prefer to keep it a secret," Ren said.

Kyoko, although she would never admit it, knew Ren was jealous, but had her own reasons for keeping her identity a secret. "Murasame really liked Setsu. Because I'm acting across from him in this latest film, I would prefer not to have my behavior as Setsu affect his attitude towards me on set."

"That's understandable," Konoe sighed. "Then, Ren, would you be willing to reveal your identity at the DVD release press conference next week? You could tell the cast before it starts."

"That would be fine," Ren replied. "Although I'm not currently scheduled to attend. I'm sure my manager would be willing to work with you on that if you meet with him."

"Is he here?"

"Of course, he's right out in the hallway."

Soon enough, Ren had introduced Konoe to Yashiro and left the hallway with Kyoko following behind.

"Are you interested in a date tonight?" Ren asked her once he was sure they were alone in some back hallway. For extra privacy, he used English.

"I couldn't go out tonight," Kyoko said, indicating her clothes. Although she thought Ren would only consider a fine restaurant a date, Ren was open to other options.

"I was thinking of going somewhere casual. Maybe an American diner type place?"

Kyoko agreed, so they sped off in Ren's Porsche to the nearest American restaurant. Ren had fun explaining what various dishes were to Kyoko, and had even more fun challenging her to order in English as soon as he found the waitress was an American ex-pat. He and the waitress laughed together as they watched Kyoko try to figure out how to eat a burger when it was not wrapped up and the toppings were on the plate next to the burger. Ren was also happy to finally have good chili cheese fries to eat, something he found Japan to be severely lacking.

"You know you have a figure to maintain, right?" Kyoko teased him.

"Why do you think I moved to Japan? I can't get fat if these are so hard to find," he joked.

"I don't think you'd get fat even if you knew where to find them," Kyoko replied. "You hardly eat."

"You're not wrong," he laughed. He wouldn't tease her about how unhealthy a burger and fries were. "Are we going to get dessert to help make sure I'm getting enough calories?"

Kyoko squinted at the dessert menu that was left on the table. "Chocolate cake?"

"Sounds good, but I'm getting my own slice," he replied.

When all was eaten and paid for, Ren helped Kyoko put her coat on so that they could leave.

"Thank you, Ren," Kyoko said once they were safely in his car. He was happy that she gave him a kiss on the cheek.

He wondered if this meant they were dating, but he wouldn't ask her. He kissed her once more, this time on the lips. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? Filming doesn't start until next week."

"At LME."

Kyoko blushed, forgetting they often ran into each other there. "At LME," she confirmed.

"I was thinking London Hearts for lunch. I'm sure Yashiro will want to come."

"That sounds great," Kyoko replied.

* * *

One week later, Ren found himself standing outside the room where he knew his costars from Tragic Marker sat. He was to wait for Konoe's signal before entering the room, per Konoe's request, but he could hear what was going on inside. Konoe was explaining that Cain and Setsuka Heel were characters he invented to make BJ a harder character to play against. Ren also heard the director's profuse apologies for all of Cain's odder tendencies, although Ren knew all of them were his fault. Finally the door opened to signal that he could come into the holding room.

As Ren walked in, he focused on the faces of the cast that was present. He didn't know it in advance, but a camera in the room was put in place to film the reactions of the cast. That was probably for some DVD extra or a variety show promotion.

One person muttered a quiet string of swear words as they saw him entered. Another kept her hands over her mouth to hide her surprise. Ren swore he saw Murasame's jaw drop.

"Good morning. I'd like to reintroduce myself. My name Tsuruga Ren. It was a pleasure getting to work with you on this movie," he said as politely as possible.

"There's no way that was you," the female lead said. The other members of the cast agreed. "I couldn't imagine you being so unprofessional even if it was an act."

Ren donned his polite but angry smile. While technically Cain was unprofessional, Ren as Cain _was_ professional – he didn't drop character and no one found out about his identity.

"So who was Setsu, then?" Ren wasn't surprised that it was Murasame who asked.

"Setsu is Setsu," Ren replied cryptically.

"So she's an actual person?"

"Of course she is," Ren told him.

"Your girlfriend then?" Murasame questioned him.

"How'd you know?" Although he wished Kyoko had been there earlier, now he was grateful she wasn't there. He could never tell her that he'd called her his girlfriend. The look on Murasame's face was exactly what he was looking for. "It was a joke. She's just a friend," Ren clarified, although that was more of a lie than his first reply.

Director Konoe looked relieved at that answer. "Setsu-chan was actually someone I hired to act as his manager, but it wouldn't be good if it got out that she played Setsu."

"So she's a manager?" A female actress asked.

"Something like that," Konoe answered sheepishly. He had to be careful not to say she was actually an actress at LME.

"With that kind of talent, she should be an actress herself," the actress exclaimed. "Then again, she shouldn't. She'd take all my roles!"

At that moment, an assistant called the cast up to the stage. There, the press began to ask Ren about his role as BJ, along with his role as Cain Heel. He tried to answer as diplomatically as possible, but it was difficult. Luckily, Director Konoe managed to field most of the questions because he was the mastermind.

When it was over, Ren was happy to move on to his next job. Well, that was until he saw Murasame's glare over his shoulder. That would certainly lead to annoying moments on set. Avoiding them would be harder than acting as Cain on set. God help him if Murasame found out who Setsu was. All he could do was wait.

* * *

 **A/N:** Next chapter is in the works right now!


	13. The First Taste

**Try Me**

 **A/N:** This is where the citrusy stuff starts, if the chapter title didn't tip you off enough. This is another longer chapter. That seems to be happening. The further I get, the longer each chapter gets.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Skip Beat

* * *

 **The First Taste**

Three weeks after the script-reading, Kyoko sat, staring at the office set. Today was the last day they would be using it, as they had finished filming all but one of the scenes that took place there. She was nervous for what the day would hold.

While right now her suit looked fine, she knew the stylist would appropriately muss it up when it came time to film the scene. It was the first of the two post-sex conversation scenes, and this one took place in the office after hours. She knew how to act it since the scene started after all activities were finished, but was not prepared to be in a half-naked state in front of the whole crew. Apparently Director Ueda only cut the staff on set for really risqué scenes, and he didn't consider messed up clothes risqué.

Once Ren arrived on set in his costume (pre-wrinkled in the dressing room), the stylist had her move to the office set and began to mess up her clothing. Her shirt and jacket were opened, and her bra pushed down. She sat on the desk so that the stylist could scrunch up the skirt and pull down the stockings. Despite earlier hair and make-up, the stylist ran her hair through it a couple more times to ensure it was just the right amount of messy and a make-up artist made her cheeks look more flushed with excess blush.

Ren waited until the director was near ready to start before he pulled his pants down just enough to fake the motions of pulling them back up for the camera.

It took all of Kyoko's acting ability not to fix her clothing quickly once the cameras began to roll. Luckily her character was a bit shy and naïve, so she had an excuse to put her clothes back on quickly, even if it wasn't as fast as she'd liked. She focused so that she wouldn't have to do more takes of the wretched scene, or at least more takes of the lines for which she was most exposed.

Ren was also happy that his character – the aloof jerk – was much less interested in watching her dress than he was in gathering his things to get home. That way, he didn't have to look at Kyoko in the incredibly attractive state she was in before the scene began.

"Cut," Director Ueda said loudly. He never yelled the word, so sometimes it was hard to hear. In this case, both actors were closely listening. Kyoko quickly turned to him and bowed, while Ren only turned to look. "Good enough. We'll have to take several more angles of it, but only after Ren moves away from you, Kyoko."

The stylist moved to get Kyoko messy again, but the director stopped her. "We don't need to do the skirt or hair again – we're doing a shot from behind her." For that, Kyoko was grateful. All she would need to do was pretend to button up her shirt and jacket again.

* * *

Kyoko's happiness at not having to expose herself more was squashed the very next week when the next suggestive scene was filmed. This one took place in her character's apartment and featured her wearing less clothes than she had ever done in front of a camera.

Her stylist (a new one she had never met) gave her little more than a towel to wear and made sure her hair was dripping with water. When she entered the set, she found that Ren wasn't wearing much more than she was, but at least he was wearing pants. She approached him nervously.

"Good morning, Tsuruga-san," she said. Because she saw the staff around them, she was careful to use honorifics.

"Good morning, Mogami-san."

"Are you ready for today's scene?"

"Yes. Hopefully everything goes smoothly." He really hoped it did. Not only was Kyoko in a towel very tempting, but he also hadn't had time to look up some of the kanji in the script. Because Kyoko was in hair and make-up for so long, he didn't have time to ask her about them. Not only would messing up his lines be embarrassing, but it would also mean Kyoko would be naked in front of prying eyes for a longer amount of time.

There was another problem Ren knew Kyoko hadn't noticed: Murasame was on set that day. Ren wasn't entirely sure why he was there – this was the only scene he knew was being filmed today – but he could question the actor later.

"Would you like to get into place?" Kyoko asked him. "It looks like they're almost ready to start."

Ren walked with Kyoko over to the fake bathroom. They looked through the drawers together to see what props would be available to them. There weren't many directions given beyond the fact that their characters had just gotten out of a bath together.

"Since this would be before getting into bed, I'd probably be combing my hair," Kyoko said, removing a hairbrush from the drawer.

"Although I think it would be more appropriate with the dialogue to be all over you, I wonder if I should."

"Why?"

"Well, he doesn't really care for her, he's just using her for sex. If he's already determined she's not into it, he'd probably just leave," Ren explained.

"But wouldn't a scumbag like that still try to convince her? They had just taken a bath together, so he must assume she's up for it," Kyoko suggested. Ren was surprised that she would think like that, though considering that she knew Sho he assumed she had had enough time with a whiny, needy guy that would beg for sex.

"Probably. He is a spoiled brat," Ren replied. His character exemplified Kuon: spoiled, needy, an attention whore, and someone who's success was entirely due to connections. Somehow playing that role was strangely cathartic, even if he hated acting out his old sleazy ways in regards to Kyoko.

"Just make sure you make me want to refuse," Kyoko warned him. Ren wondered what she meant by that – it sounded like a pick-up line, but he knew Kyoko would never intend it as such. "I think she would eventually give in if he wasn't being incredibly insistent and rough because she's so naïve. She loves him, so she would want to please him. She'd only worry about herself over him if he goes really over the top."

"That makes sense," Ren sighed. He tried to think about how he could act it out without potentially scaring or hurting her. "But remember you can always stop the scene if you need to."

Kyoko knew she needed him to be scary, so she wouldn't stop the scene no matter what. This was the turning point of their relationship – where Ren's character decided he hated her and wanted to sabotage her career because Kyoko's was having second thoughts about using him to advance her career.

"Are you two ready to start?" Director Ueda called from behind the camera.

"One second," Ren called. He moved to stand behind Kyoko and wrapped his arms around her. He adjusted his head to rest on her shoulder such that his mouth was in the crook of her neck. One hand played with the edge of her towel, making Ren hope it was adequately secured. "Now we're ready."

From the sidelines, Murasame watched his fellow actors prepare. He didn't need to be on set today, but the drama he was filming next door was delayed until the afternoon, so he figured it would be good to watch Ren act. Murasame hated Ren for his behavior as Cain, but as an up-and-coming actor he figured it would be best to learn from him, or at least see what made the man so loved in the industry.

He watched as Ren worked with Kyoko to figure out exactly what they were about to do. It was bizarre to see how in-tuned the two were with each other. He'd heard the rumors that the two were dating, but he'd never had reason to care. It certainly seemed that they could be – Kyoko was oddly comfortable with having Japan's most desirable actor that close to her when she was near naked. It was a complete 180 from the modest and polite attitude she showed every other day on set.

Briefly he wondered if it was possible that she was Setsuka – but she was much too short compared to Ren. Then again, Setsuka had worn high heels most days, so it was conceivable that she was shorter than she came across on set. There was also the fact that Konoe had spoken to Ren and Kyoko that day, but he didn't know if that was related to Ren's role at all or if he was offering them other roles. He'd have to wait for more evidence.

Murasame wondered if he should care enough to figure out who Setsuka was. While she was his type, Kyoko wasn't, and even if she was, Kyoko was almost certainly already taken. If she wasn't already taken, Ren certainly thought she was.

The scene that unfolded before him was going well. It was odd for Murasame to watch the cute, innocent Kyoko letting Ren (acting just as disgusting as Cain Heel) drag his hands and lips across her skin. Once Kyoko began to resist and more blatantly say she wasn't into it, he could see a little bit more of Kyoko in her character. As Ren began to get frustrated and stormed out of the fake bathroom, Murasame could see more of Cain in him.

He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around to see his manager. It was time to return to the set he was meant to be on.

When Ren was finished with the scene, he was happy to see that Murasame had left the set. Kyoko had also run off, but he assumed she was going to get dressed. After that she would probably be putting on as many clothes as she could.

Understandably, he wasn't surprised when he saw Kyoko leaving set in her heaviest coat.

"Tsuruga-san," Kyoko said, turning around to speak to him. "What time will you be done tonight?"

"I have a magazine interview after this, but I should be heading home after that. I'll be done no later than six," he replied.

"I hope everything goes well. Thank you for your hard work today," Kyoko responded. She bowed and left the set. It was a curious answer, but Kyoko tended to respond oddly sometimes, so he wasn't too worried. He did wonder if it meant she would be visiting and noted that he should try to stop by the grocery on the way home.

* * *

After the long day he'd had, Ren collapsed on the couch. He would have to be up early for the next day. If Kimagure Rock hadn't been on, he would've just prepared for bed.

A knock sounded on his door. Outside was Kyoko, wearing the clothes Julie had gotten for her. He had entirely forgotten that she might be coming over. Luckily, with his habits, he had no tidying up to do to impress her.

"Come in," he said, ushering her through the door. He took her coat to hang up and put her purse onto the kitchen counter before locking the door to his apartment.

Kyoko nervously sat at the counter, wringing her hands.

"Did something happen?" Ren was worried that something was wrong with Kyoko. Instinctively, he wanted to blame Murasame.

Kyoko shook her head. He moved towards her, wondering what he could do to comfort her without scaring her.

"Is something up then?"

Kyoko blushed and nodded again. "I was wondering," she said shyly.

"Wondering?" He was getting almost impatient now. He was too tired to wait.

"I was wondering if we could practice," Kyoko replied.

"Practice?" Ren thought she was doing just fine on set, and two of the three hardest scenes were done. The hardest was yet to come – that would be next week.

"W- well, I just," Kyoko paused. "I feel like it wasn't enough to watch those movies." The last part was so quiet Ren had to lean in to hear it.

"What do you mean?" Ren knew what Kyoko likely meant, but he didn't want to presume anything. He also didn't want to get too excited about nothing. Frankly, he wasn't even sure if he wanted to think about Kyoko wanting anything so adult, especially because he wanted it so badly.

"I want to know how it feels. I think that would help me act it better," Kyoko said, a bit more confident this time.

"Are you sure?" Ren asked.

"W- we don't have to go all the way! Just the stuff they want on film," Kyoko answered.

"I would love to," Ren said, pecking her on the lips. "Though shouldn't we get food first?"

"I'm too nervous," Kyoko replied, "Even though I want it."

"Dinner should help calm you down," Ren assured her. "I actually bought you some ingredients to use if you'd like to cook."

Kyoko looked up at him, suddenly looking more calm. "Really?"

"I didn't know everything you needed, so I just bought everything I could remember you needing last time."

Kyoko began to shuffle around, looking in the bags.

"Would you like me to help?" Ren knew the answer, but would always offer. He didn't want her to feel like she was obligated to cook every time she came over.

"No. Go watch TV or something," Kyoko replied, kicking him out of the kitchen. "Dinner shouldn't take too long."

He waited anxiously for her to finish dinner. Tonight it was simple – a vegetable stew with rice on the side. They both ate slowly, relishing in the conversation about their evenings. With both of them so nervous, it still felt like dinner had gone by too quickly. Kyoko cleaned up the dishes and walked out to wash them, once again leaving Ren to his nervousness. He was sure he would somehow screw this up by going too far. It worried him more that he didn't even know what too far was.

Kyoko came back in and sat across from him. "How does this start, Ren?"

Ren leaned across the table and gave her a passionate kiss before pulling back.

"Like that?"

He kissed her again. This time he put a hand behind her head to pull her mouth to his. She began to pull away against his hand, and he was worried that he had offended her. Instead of being scared, she moved around the table to sit next to him and initiated a kiss. He wrapped his arms around her back and felt her hands reach around to grab the back of his shirt.

Feeling emboldened, Ren began to nibble on her bottom lip and moved his lips over hers. Kyoko attempted to mimic his motions before once again pulling back. They stared into each other's' eyes from a long time before either of them spoke.

"Would you like to move to the bedroom?" Ren asked. "The floor can be a bit uncomfortable, and rugs are rough on the skin."

Kyoko blushed, but followed when he got up.

"You can always tell me to stop if you get uncomfortable, Kyoko," Ren told her.

"I will," Kyoko responded to make sure he knew she understood.

As soon as the bedroom door was shut behind them, the kissing began again. This time, there was an added element of grabbing at clothes. The new addition made Kyoko nervous, but she knew it was what she wanted to experience, so she kept going. That didn't mean she couldn't remain in control. As Ren reached for the pull of her zipper, she put her elbows between them so that she could unbutton his shirt. Her change of focus distracted him from his zipper as he helped her slide his shirt off his arms. Once it was off, he was finally able to get back to the zipper and pull it down off her frame.

He used the moment of surprise Kyoko experienced as her dress fell to the floor to pick Kyoko up and drop her on his bed.

"Are you still okay with this?" He asked her.

Kyoko nodded and moved to kiss him again for reassurance. He wanted to ask for extra confirmation, but took the bait and began to kiss her again, pulling her back down to the sheets.

They continued to kiss as his hands began to explore her back. Ren slowly moved one hand to Kyoko's breast, caressing it over her bra. He wanted to take it off, and he knew they probably would for the movie, but he didn't know how far she wanted to go so he moved slowly. When he finally managed to unhook it, Kyoko jumped against him.

"Was that too much?" He moved to re-hook the back of her bra.

"No! It's fine," Kyoko assured him. "It's just – I wasn't expecting you do to that."

"We can stop now if you're uncomfortable," Ren said, wrapping his arms around her back and squeezing her. "This is probably as far as we need to go for the movie."

"Can we," Kyoko paused, a blush again beginning to overtake her features. "Can we go a bit further?"

Ren's eyes widened at her request. He thought this was all for practice.

"I- I mean, we don't have to," Kyoko said.

"I'd be happy to go as far as you want to go," Ren replied. He didn't really want to go all the way that night because he was so tired, but if she wanted to, he would.

To his surprise, Kyoko slipped her arms out of her bra straps and dumped the garment off the side of the bed. This time Ren was the one to blush. As a teenager, he thought all breasts were equal; as an adult, he realized none were quite as sexy as those belonging to the girl he loved.

Kyoko blushed more as she caught Ren staring. His hands reached out towards her as she watched. She nodded, assuring him that it was okay to touch if he chose to do so.

Ren felt like a blushing virgin again as he reached out to massage her breasts. He brought his mouth back to hers and began to kiss her again. Despite feeling clumsy, he knew he was on the right track when he heard a soft moan escape from Kyoko's lips.

Kyoko's hands wandered down Ren's back and reached down for his belt buckle.

"Let's stop," Ren said, pulling away from Kyoko. For some reason, seeing Kyoko naked and fondling her breasts felt fine at this point, but having her touch him in that way was going too far when Kyoko was so obviously new to this.

Kyoko looked at him with desperate eyes that he knew meant she thought she had made a mistake.

"It's not that I don't want to, Kyoko. God knows I do," Ren tried to explain. He ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "It's that I know you're not ready for anything more yet."

"How do you know?" Kyoko asked, turning her head away.

"I love you, Kyoko. I'd never hurt you," Ren responded. "I don't want you to regret anything." He also didn't want to feel like a rapist.

"When will it be time?" Kyoko could admit he was right – she definitely wasn't ready for anything more – but she wanted more. Because of that, she wanted to know when she would be ready.

Ren contemplated this. He wasn't sure of that himself. "When you can approach me about it confidently, and not just acting confident."

Kyoko nodded. Ren wrapped his arms around her. They sat like that for some time before Ren noticed Kyoko had fallen asleep. Carefully, he lay down and brought her with him. Almost too quickly, he fell asleep.

* * *

Ren's alarm woke them up the next morning. He groaned as he untangled himself from Kyoko and got out of bed.

"How long to we have?" Kyoko's raspy voice asked.

"An hour," he replied. As soon as he'd changed into his favorite pair of sweatpants he sat back down and began to stroke her hair.

Kyoko moved to get out of bed to get dressed, but paused when she realized she was only wearing her underwear.

"Take your time getting dressed. I bought some hard-boiled eggs and bread for breakfast," Ren told her. He kissed her on the forehead before standing up to use the bathroom.

"Ren?"

He turned around to look at her. She was back under the sheets now, pulling the comforter up to her chin for modesty's sake.

"About last night… Even though I'm not ready to go further right now, can we at least do that much again?"

Ren was happy but surprised to hear her question. He slowly moved back to the bed to give her a kiss on the lips. "Any time you wish," he replied.

Kyoko blushed, thinking about how much he seemed like a prince in that moment. She wondered when the next time would be.

* * *

 **A/N:** It's amazing how much I can write when I have a paper to procrastinate on! I'm closer to being done with this fic though.


	14. The Scene

**Try Me**

 **A/N:** A bit more citrus here. If you calculate all the weeks, the date in this chapter is probably very wrong but just go with it.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Skip Beat

* * *

 **The Scene**

Kyoko was sitting in the Love Me locker room with Kanae and Chiori cleaning out out files for the music department of LME. While they worked, they had a radio playing in the background. They weren't listening until Kyoko heard Director Ueda's voice on the radio. She turned towards it in horror. Her fellow Love Me members stopped what they were doing to listen.

"So your new movie is starring Tsuruga Ren-san, correct?"

"That's correct," Director Ueda replied to the host.

"I've heard there's risqué scenes in the movie. Whoever his costar is must be pretty lucky, right?" The host of the radio show asked. "I'm sure there were actresses begging for the role once they heard he was cast."

"Actually there wasn't. We were going to cast someone else for both lead roles."

"Really?"

"I didn't like the casting, but I thought it was as close as we'd get. I was getting close to desperate, so I asked a friend who specifically recommended the now-leads of the film to me. I was skeptical about them, but both agreed," Director Ueda explained.

"If you were skeptical, why'd you have them sign on?"

"Well, for Ren-kun, I thought he'd say no. He likes to try new things, but his agency likes to protect his image," Director Ueda said. "As for the actress, she's a relative newcomer. Generally I don't like to work with fresher faces because I don't know what kind of performance they'll give."

"A newcomer? She must have been really excited about this part then, acting across from Tsuruga Ren in such an intimate role," the host reiterated.

"We're very lucky to have her because she isn't excited at all. Most actresses would mess it up by being too enthusiastic," Director Ueda said. "She's obviously inexperienced in every way that would matter for this role, but she is able to play the role far better than anyone else I had in mind."

"I'm surprised we haven't heard her name, then. The rest of the cast has been announced," the host said.

"You'll hear it after the movie, for sure. She's like a mini-Tsuruga: talented, professional, and smart," Director Ueda praised Kyoko. Kyoko was shocked to hear it considering how strict he was with her on set.

"But why not now?"

"It's a marketing decision. The other actors and actresses in the movie are all much more well-known, so mentioning them will bring in larger audiences. I'm not sure why they're withholding her name entirely. I think her agency is waiting until she's a bit older." Kyoko hadn't realized that her name wasn't tied to the project."

"Older?" The host was obviously curious about this slip.

"She's very young for a risqué role, so I believe her agency doesn't want it to hurt her career. When the movie comes out and people see her as a serious actress it will be okay, but right now she's primarily competing for roles on teen dramas with innocent, cute idols," Director Ueda tried to rationalize. "So if she wants to keep working in the time before the movie's released, her name can't be tied to it."

"And she's okay with doing intimate scenes?" The host asked, surprised at the Director's words.

"No, she isn't, but she's a professional. Ren-kun is worse. He performs them well because of their chemistry on screen, but beforehand he's a wreck – he thinks too much about the possibility of accidentally offending his costar," Director Ueda told her. "He's too much of a gentleman to just do the damn scenes like any other."

The host laughed.

"What the hell, Kyoko?" Kanae asked. She slammed her hand on the radio to turn it off. "You're not only doing those sorts of scenes, but you're also good at them?"

Kyoko blushed. "I think I'm bad at them. I have no idea what to do!"

"Isn't your character the same, though?" Kanae asked her.

"Well, she's not an expert, but she at least knows more than I do." Kyoko said.

"Then how do you act it?" Chiori asked.

"I don't know," Kyoko said. "Julie-san recommended that I watch similar scenes from other movies, so I did that, and it helped a bit. They don't actually show much."

"But they show enough! Mo- aren't you nervous about being naked on set?" Kanae questioned her friend.

"W- well, I just- I don't know," Kyoko replied.

"You have to know! Didn't Hizuri-san give you advice?" Chiori's eyes popped wide open at Kanae's question – she hadn't realized that Kyoko knew the Hizuris, let alone know them well enough to ask for advice.

"She did," Kyoko said, mulling over whether she should tell her friend or not. She determined that that would be a huge mistake. "But on set, I just try to stay covered up as long as possible. They also usually try to keep it tasteful because Director Ueda doesn't like these sorts of scenes."

"Really? Who'd've thought," Chiori replied. "A lot of his movies have risqué scenes. Maybe he's being careful because of your age?"

"Tsuruga-san told me that having those sorts of scenes makes the film more likely to win international awards," Kyoko tried to explain. "So Director Ueda feels he has to put them in if he wants his work to be noticed internationally."

"That's such bullshit," Kanae said.

"But at least you get to look at Tsuruga-san naked, right?" Chiori joked. "He's easy on the eyes."

Kyoko looked horrified, as did Kanae. Kanae wondered if Chiori knew how Kyoko felt about Ren. Soon, though, Kyoko's look turned into a blush.

"He only really ever gets shirtless," Kyoko said.

"Even more bullshit, making you get naked and not him?" Kanae huffed.

"It makes sense with his character," Kyoko attempted to justify. "Director Ueda doesn't like to show the actual act on screen, so everything is before or after. Tsuruga-san's character is the type who likes to leave as soon as things are over, so he gets dressed quickly."

"It still sucks," Kanae replied.

"Yeah," Kyoko sighed. "It does."

* * *

It was the morning of the scene that would suck the most. Kyoko had walked on set early for hair and make-up and was greeted by a larger team than she was used to. In the main part of the studio a plush hotel room and the outside hallway had been built overnight.

This scene would take place after a dinner date one that had been filmed as one of the first scenes, even though it was one of the last to be filmed. Kyoko remembered the costume: a sexy red dress with a stylish short black trench coat. Both items were hanging in her dressing room.

The head make-up artist approached her after closing the door. "Mogami-san, if you wouldn't mind, would you take off your clothes?"

Kyoko's eyes widened and she couldn't hide the shocked look on her face.

"We don't know when the director is going to cut the scene, so we need to do extensive make-up," she explained. "You can put a robe on for now, if that would help."

Kyoko nodded. "Could I have the robe please?"

They began with the normal make-up on her face and styling her hair. As the main make-up artist and hair stylists worked their magic, the assistants got to work on her body. One shaved her legs, ensuring no hair would be visible while the other groomed her nails to look as they had for the date scene. Kyoko almost fell asleep waiting for them to finish.

"Can you remove the robe now, Mogami-san? We at least need access to your chest," the make-up artist said. Shyly, Kyoko complied. She'd bathed with other women before in traditional Japanese baths, but they'd never touched her unless they knew her well enough to help wash her back.

Kyoko watched as one of the assistants got a pot of wax ready. The other assistant began to check for underarm hair before applying the wax. Kyoko tried to hold in a yelp of pain as the hair was ripped out. Thankfully, once they were done they left the room. On her chest and back, the make-up artist checked for any skin blemishes and covered them up as necessary.

"Will the make-up stay on?" Kyoko asked. She didn't want this done again.

"We'll put a spray on when we're done. It will make the make-up stay on at least until your next bath, although sometimes even that won't get it off," the make-up artist assured her. "This will feel a bit funny."

Kyoko looked down in utter confusion as the make-up artist began to apply make-up to her nipples.

"I suppose you've never had this done before, have you?"

Kyoko nodded.

"It's to make your nipples look perfect for the camera. All women have something asymmetrical about them, but beauty standards want symmetry, hence this. It shouldn't take too long for you, since you have very little asymmetry."

Kyoko blushed at hearing the make-up artist's frankness.

"We'll also need to do some cleaning up down below, in case the director wants to show you in your panties," she added. Kyoko gulped. "It's okay. I know this is all new to you."

By the time Kyoko was allowed out of her dressing room in costume, she wished it was still new to her. Luckily, she found Ren sitting at a table in the studio eating his catered breakfast. He seemed perfectly awake and comfortable, unlike she did. She hated that hair and make-up always took a shorter time for men.

"Good morning, Mogami-san," he said. "How was your morning?"

"Good," she lied.

"I can tell," he replied, dripping with sarcasm. "I heard hair and make-up put you through the ringer this morning."

"Didn't you get anything uncomfortable done?" Kyoko grumbled.

"No. I usually keep my body hair in control by myself to avoid any unwanted questions," he explained. That reminded Kyoko that any body hair he had would grow blonde, making it important for him to minimize its growth. "I also have a stipulation in my contract saying that I won't do any nudity below the waist."

"Is that why your character always wears pants?" Kyoko asked, recalling her conversation with Kanae.

"No, that was an acting choice. Today I'm sure I'll be without pants at some point," he assured her. "Though it'll be covered by a sheet, so I'll be fine. I can still wear underwear if I want."

"I'm glad I haven't seen Yashiro here," Kyoko sighed. "He would be so excited for this scene."

"Which is why I made sure to give him meeting after meeting about potential projects for me," Ren smiled deviously. Kyoko rarely saw him smile like that in public.

"Kyoko-chan, Ren-kun, we're ready," the Director called. "Get into position for the shot of your characters entering the hotel room."

Kyoko and Ren took off the coats they had worn for warmth and moved behind the fake elevator doors.

"And… Action!"

As soon as the elevator doors opened, Kyoko guided Ren through the hall towards the camera and the door to their "room." She fumbled through her "purse" to find the room key. Before she could insert it into the door, Ren grabbed her butt, causing her to jump nervously.

The hotel room's door opened and Ren pushed Kyoko through the door, crushing his lips to her own and forcing her coat off her shoulders and onto the floor. She, much more shyly, reached up to force his coat off and work on the buttons of his shirt. In the meantime, Ren made quick work of her dress and let it drop to the floor. Now, as he kissed her neck, Ren forced Kyoko towards the bed. His shirt had fallen into the growing trail on the floor.

On the bed, he continued to kiss up and down Kyoko's torso as she desperately reached for his belt. She knew that her character, although nervous, would be sexually assertive because she thought sleeping with him would be good for her career.

This time, Ren let her take the belt off and unzip his pants, though after she did it he repositioned her so he could easily take off her bra. His character liked control: he'd take the rest off on his own time, but now he wanted Kyoko naked. Ren tried not to flinch as he kissed down her neck and chest to focus his attention on her breasts. This was farther than he'd ever gotten with her, so he had to be careful. That wasn't to mention the bad taste in his mouth from the make-up they'd placed on her. He moved his mouth back up to hers so he could avoid that taste. At least the literal bad taste in his mouth from the scene was a total boner-killer, because he knew he was getting one.

"And, CUT," Director Ueda called out.

Kyoko scrambled to get under the bed sheets and cover up while he checked the footage. Ren sat at the edge of the bed and stared at the wall, trying to think unsexy thoughts.

"It looks like all the stuff before you got onto the bed is exactly what I wanted for the film. The stuff in bed I would film again if I wanted to include it, but I hate putting anything that risqué in my films, so I intend to cut it anyways," Director Ueda told the crew along with Ren and Kyoko. "We're just going to film the aftermath. Would you two mind throwing the rest of your clothes on the floor and messing up the bed a bit? Everyone else, have a five-minute coffee break while they do that to give them some privacy."

The set cleared out of the skeleton crew running it that day. Kyoko turned her back to Ren so she could take off her panties and drop them near her bra. He took off his pants and boxers and dropped them to the floor as well. They hopped under the covers of the bed for privacy before the crew came back.

"I forgot!" Kyoko said, surprising Ren. He rolled over to look at her. She was sheepishly cuddled under the blankets, with the sheet pulled all the way up to her chin. "Happy Birthday, Ren!"

"Thank you," he smiled. He would've reached out to hug her if not for the position they were in. "Don't worry about it, though. I entirely forgot as well."

"I'm sorry I can't do anything tonight to celebrate."

"It's okay. I thought I'd call my parents when I got home," Ren said.

"Really? I thought you wanted to wait a little longer before you reconnected with them."

"Over Christmas I realized a call every once in a while wouldn't hurt. It was nice to see them."

"That's great," Kyoko told him, an enthusiastic smile on her face.

"What are you doing tonight?" Ren was hoping she would make dinner for him on his birthday or provide moral support for his call home, but if she was busy, she couldn't help it.

"My mother invited me to the symphony. I guess her law firm gave her tickets and she didn't want to take a date, so she invited me," Kyoko blushed. Her mother's invitation was entirely unexpected, but she felt obliged to accept. Because her mother was finally trying hard to be a good mother, Kyoko wanted to show that she was thankful.

"That should be nice. I've never been to the symphony here, so you'll have to tell me how it is, or better yet-" He had meant to ask her on a date, but of course the doors to the studio opened to let the crew back on right at that minute. Kyoko was so surprised she jumped up, causing the sheets to fall to her waist. She scrambled to pull them back up.

"Mogami-san, Tsuruga-san, we need to fix your make-up," Kyoko's make-up artist said.

Kyoko remained seated and waited for them to finish blotting her lipstick out. They added some extra color to her cheeks and did the same for Ren. After they were done the director came over to inspect the set and his actors. He finally determined it was time to start.

The crew adjusted the lighting so that it appeared the lights in the hotel room had been turned off. Kyoko lay back down and rolled over onto her side facing the edge of the bed. Ren rolled to the far side of the bed facing away from Kyoko. Crew members adjusted the sheets to cover just enough of Ren and Kyoko for modesty, but reveal enough for the implication of the shot could be clear.

Kyoko and Ren waited while the director took what seemed to be an excessive number of angles of them lying far apart in the bed.

"Okay! Now we can start the scene," Director Ueda called out. That meant Kyoko would have to do literally nothing but pretend she was asleep. She wasn't entirely sure how well she could fake that considering what was coming. At least the angle of the shot Director Ueda had planned wouldn't show much of anything.

Ren gruffly got out of bed, wrapping a sheet around his hips for modesty. Ren knew his character wouldn't actually do that, but his own false modesty (and contract) dictated that he should do so. He grabbed the prop phone off the nightstand and moved to the side of the bed where Kyoko was "sleeping." He used the phone to take pictures of the sleeping Kyoko and adjusted the sheets to reveal more for the photos. When he was done, he grabbed his clothes off of the floor and moved to the fake hotel bathroom to get dressed. The door closed behind him and the scene was finished.

Inside the fake bathroom, he bothered to put on as many clothes as he could before he left. He didn't want to be too naked and offend anyone. Outside of the bathroom, he saw Kyoko once again tucked under the comforter. An assistant waited at the edge of the set with a robe for Kyoko, so Ren went to grab it for her.

"Thank you, Tsuruga-san," She said. He laughed as she tried to put it on under the sheets.

"Do you need any help there?"

"No!" Kyoko's muffled voice came from under the seats. Ren chuckled. After a minute, Kyoko's head popped up from under the sheets and he could see her hands tying the belt.

She slipped out of the bed and stood up. She grabbed her discarded costume to bring back to her dressing room. Ren tried to follow her to the dressing rooms, but was stopped by Director Ueda.

"I hope those weren't actual pictures of Kyoko-chan," he warned Ren.

"Never," Ren assured him.

"Good. I have a daughter Kyoko's age, so I feel more dirty than usual filming these scenes," the director admitted. "If she wasn't so good I would've picked someone older."

"Understood," Ren replied, eager to get off set.

"So there better be no pictures. I know it's not connected to a network, but that isn't stopping some pervert in the prop department from stealing it and uploading the pictures to his pictures," Director Ueda said sternly. "And even though I don't want to, I'm checking the phone to make sure."

Ren watched with amusement as the director grabbed the phone sitting on the table and brought it over. As Ren supervised, he went through each and every picture on the phone. There were only a few from the set – it was the old phone of one of the prop guys – so most were his old pictures. All of the pictures on set were of the cast and crew as far as Ren knew. Still, Director Ueda made him wait as he examined the photos.

"Good. Now go home," Director Ueda told him. Ren was only too happy to take him up on that. He wanted to catch Kyoko before she left.

Ren knocked on the door of Kyoko's dressing room. The make-up artist opened the door and poked her head out. "Oh, it's you." Her head popped back into the room. "Mogami-san, it's Tsuruga-san."

Kyoko said something, but Ren couldn't make it out.

The make-up artist's head popped back out of the door. "She says to come back when you're dressed."

"Thank you," he replied before running to his dressing room and hastily putting on his street clothes. When he returned, the make-up artist let him in. Kyoko sat in the make-up chair dressed in whatever she was wearing to the symphony. He could see a bit of green dress poking out. Her hair was pulled out of her face so that the make-up artist could re-do her make-up for the evening.

"Are you heading home?" Kyoko asked from the chair.

"Yeah," Ren replied. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Okay?" The make-up artist took this opportunity to leave the room so they could talk in private.

"About the scene today," he said.

"I'm fine," Kyoko replied. "Because of Julie's advice, I was a lot less nervous than I thought I would be."

"So I didn't do anything wrong?"

Kyoko shook her head. "You being there made me less nervous."

"To be honest, it was the same for me," Ren admitted. "It was easier to do something like that with someone I trust." There were some actresses he was sure would molest him if given the chance in that sort of scene.

"Oh! Did Yashiro-san ask you about Valentine's Day?"

"Valentine's Day?" Ren asked her. He hadn't remembered Yashiro telling him anything.

"You're filming a live variety special in the evening, so we can't do dinner. Instead, I thought we'd do brunch instead? I already asked Yashiro about your schedule for that day," Kyoko told him.

"So what excuse did you give him for finding that out?"

"I told him that I try to give my friends their chocolate on Valentine's Day. I wanted to know if there would be a time our schedules would match up to give you yours. He eagerly told me that you had a free morning," Kyoko explained.

"What time?"

"The restaurant with American brunch has the menu start at 10am."

"I'll pick you up at 9 then," Ren told her. "You still have the disguise I got you for Disneyland?"

"It's at your apartment," Kyoko reminded him.

"I'll bring it to set day after tomorrow then," Ren assured her. He leaned down so Kyoko could give him a kiss, but he didn't get one.

"I have lipstick on," Kyoko whispered. "I wouldn't want you to leave with lipstick on your face."

"Smart as always," Ren laughed. He hugged her from behind instead. "I'll see you soon."

"Good night," Kyoko smiled. "Happy Birthday!"

Ren left and let the make-up artist back in, a brilliant smile on his face. He didn't care that Kyoko forgot to get him a present – getting close to her was all he needed. Now he would just have to figure out how to make it through that Valentine's Day special.

* * *

 **A/N:** Next time, Valentine's Day!


	15. The Special

**Try Me**

 **A/N:** It's Valentine's Time! (And somehow less romantic than other chapters after the first bit.)

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Skip Beat

* * *

 **The Special**

Kyoko woke up excited to take Ren to brunch. Since brunch wasn't common in Japan, she'd never been to one herself. Not only that, but she was happy she finally got up the courage to ask him out. It was better that he said yes.

She carefully put the wig on, gluing the lace front down just like she had with Setsu's, and followed a Western make-up tutorial. Knowing she couldn't wear her normal clothes (or the casual Disneyland outfit), she took a dress out from her closet. The dress was one of the ones Julie had bought for her, and was the only one she had worn back to the Daruma-ya so far. She thought she'd only wear it to go to and from Ren's, but this would be a much better use for it. Thankfully, she had brought the matching coat, shoes, and purse with her that day so that she now had a full outfit to wear. She wasn't sure that she would have a coherent outfit otherwise.

Ren hardly recognized Kyoko when he pulled up in front of the Daruma-ya to pick her up. He hadn't expected her to dress up nicely for brunch (he didn't know if she even knew what brunch was). Luckily, he had worn what he designated brunch attire – slacks, a button-up, and a sweater vest. It was nerdy, sure, but it was appropriate. It also matched Kyoko's state of dress, which was good. Added to the blond wig, it made him look perfectly American.

"Good morning, Kuon," Kyoko chirped. "Happy Valentine's Day!"

Ren surprised her with a kiss on the lips.

"Ah! Before I forget," Kyoko paused to show him a pastry box she had brought with. "I made you these for Valentine's Day."

"Can I have one now?" Ren asked, moving to open the box.

"No! Maybe tonight," Kyoko said. "You need to eat a normal meal first."

"Can I at least find out what they are?"

"Cupcakes," Kyoko told him. "Raspberry and wine cupcakes."

"Where'd you get the wine?"

"I gave the Okami-san money to buy me some," Kyoko said. "I told her she and Taisho-san could drink what I didn't use."

"And she agreed?"

"As long as I didn't drink any myself," Kyoko replied.

"I'm happy she agreed to then. They sound delicious." Ren smiled down at the box of cupcakes before giving Kyoko a peck on the lips. "Should we get going, then?"

Kyoko nodded. She input the directions into his phone and they were off.

Ren was surprised to find himself at a fancy business hotel aimed at international travellers, though he figured it was likely the only place that would serve a Western brunch.

Kyoko walked up to the hostess's counter and, in convincing American-accented Japanese, told her that the Mogami party of two had arrived. The hostess greeted her in English and moved to seat them. Among a sea of business travelers networking with each other over brunch, Kyoko and Ren were seated in a quiet corner.

It was a good cover. A wealthy young foreign couple would probably eat a late breakfast on Valentine's Day, and would most likely stay at a nice hotel popular among foreigners. Because the hotel had separated out the tables for business from the tables they had decorated for Valentine's day, they were also separated from the noise. Since most couples wouldn't be having a fancy meal until much later in the day, they were the only ones in that section. Ren wondered if Kyoko had thought about this, or if it was all coincidence. He assumed the later, but couldn't rule out the former. From her days in the service industry, Kyoko had to know the patters associated with Valentine's Day.

As soon as they sat down, a waiter brought them menus and water. He asked if they wanted wine, but knowing Kyoko was underaged and he had work to do after brunch, Ren turned down the offer. They sat in silence until they determined their orders and submitted them to the waiter.

"What do you have planned for the day, Kyoko?" Ren asked the question in English, assuming she would follow suit.

"Ah, well, Mr. Takarada gave our section the day off so that we could 'properly celebrate love.' Moko and I will be having a date," Kyoko tried to say.

"I wouldn't say a date," Ren corrected her. "If it's between friends, it's just 'hanging out.'"

"Then Moko-san and I will be hanging out. What time will you be done tonight?"

"Around nine at the earliest," Ren replied. "After the variety special, I've been asked to go to a special Valentine's event at a club, though that usually just means showing up long enough to make my presence known."

"Why would they pay you just to show up?"

Ren shrugged. "By saying I'll be there at a certain time, they'll have a lot more people show up and pay to enter. It's easy money for me – I show up for as little as five minutes and get paid enough to get you your Valentine's gift and then some."

"Why would you get me a gift?" Kyoko asked. Ren was grateful no one was nearby to hear that question – it would immediately tell them that Kyoko wasn't American.

He leaned over to whisper in her ear. "In America, Valentine's Day is a couples' holiday. There's generally not gifts, but if there is, it's the man giving his girlfriend jewelry. They go on a fancy date and then go home and have a romantic night."

Kyoko leaned back. "Really?"

Ren nodded. "So I got you something." He reached into her pocket and handed her a small jewelry box.

Kyoko blushed as she took the box and opened it up. Inside was a pair of small ruby stud earrings.

"I would have liked to get you something more expensive, but I knew you wouldn't wear anything larger," Ren told her.

"Thank you."

The waiter arrived with their food. He was so quiet that they didn't notice he'd arrived until the steaming plates were set in front of them. Kyoko immediately began to eat.

"This is delicious," Kyoko said. "We should eat this more!"

"If you would take me out for every meal, I would eat every meal," he replied, his mouth full of food.

"So what's the special tonight?"

She swore he saw Ren shudder. "A variety special."

"Do you know anything about it?"

"I don't want to do it," Ren grumbled childishly. He wanted to tell her he'd much rather be spending the evening with her, but he thought that would be too flirty. In that moment, Kyoko knew it was Kuon talking.

"Why not?" Kyoko pressed.

"Well, they won't tell me what's going on," Ren told her. "But I've seen commercials, and it seems they're going to make me go on a date with a fan."

Kyoko tried to hide her sudden jealousy, even if she knew Ren wouldn't do anything with the fan.

"It would be easier if I could get you to act as the fan, and you know Lory would arrange that, but he would be too suspicious of my motives," Ren lamented.

"I can watch," Kyoko suggested. "I'll text you at commercial breaks."

"That would be great," Ren smiled. "It would be helpful. Though I wouldn't want to make you watch it if you didn't want to."

"It's okay. I'd be just as frustrated with you on a show like that," Kyoko admitted. "If it helps, I have another present for you."

Ren perked up. "What for?"

"Your birthday. I didn't finish it in time." Kyoko began to rummage through her purse and pulled out a small package.

"Can I open it now?"

Kyoko nodded.

Ren immediately went to work on the wrapping paper. He pulled out a small notebook from inside and stared at it curiously. When he opened it up, he found Kyoko's neat handwriting inside. She watched as he read the note she'd written in English.

"A pocket-sized book of Japanese idioms?" Ren asked.

"I noticed you were still having trouble with some of the lines," Kyoko replied. "I'm sorry if you don't like it."

Ren laughed. "No- that's not it at all! I just thought it was funny how spot on your gift was. And since you didn't say what it was on the cover, it'll be easy to bring on set with me."

Kyoko sighed in relief.

Ren checked his watch and swore.

Kyoko looked up, worried that she had done something wrong.

"It's already noon," Ren said. "We've been here two hours."

Kyoko stared at him, wondering what that meant. She hadn't seen anyone come into their section, so it's not like they were taking up valuable table space.

"I'm supposed to be picking up Yashiro at one, and I need to go home and change before that."

"I could go home on my own," Kyoko suggested.

"No, no. I'll drop you off. I don't need to be at the studio until three for hair and make-up, so I'll just pick Yashiro up late. We'll still have plenty of time to get there," Ren assured her.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course," Ren replied.

* * *

Kyoko was sitting on Kanae's couch. They had planned to spend the afternoon watching a movie and eating leftover chocolate, but Kyoko had turned the TV to the special Ren was set to be on while Kanae took a trip to the bathroom.

"Mo- what are you watching?" Kanae asked as a huge heart covered the screen, announcing the beginning to the special.

"Tsuruga-san is going to be on this special," Kyoko replied

"So, you're watching it to see him on Valentine's Day?"

"No!" Kyoko blushed. "He said he was uncomfortable with the premise, so he wanted me to watch for moral support." Kanae was getting more surprised every day with how blind her friend was to Ren's massive crush on her.

"I wonder why," Kanae pondered. She wondered what would make the famous professional Tsuruga Ren nervous, so she plopped down on the couch next to Kyoko.

"Love Love Special~! Date Japan's top bachelors special," A deep announcer's voice boomed out of the speakers.

The camera showed the hosts – a popular comedy duo and a former idol. "So tonight we have managed to gather three of Japan's top bachelors to try and find them love," The former idol explained. "We'll watch them chose their date and follow the romantic dates live on television tonight."

Kyoko and Kanae's eyes both went wide. They ignored the host's banter and the presentation of the guests that would provide entertainment during boring parts of the "date night."

"No wonder Tsuruga-san didn't want to do this," Kanae sighed. She knew he would've happily agreed if Kyoko was his date, but alas they were asked to date normal Japanese citizens.

After the first commercial break, the dates would begin. "Our three handsome bachelors tonight are," the former idol paused for dramatic effect. "Fuwa Sho-san!" The audience cheered while Sho walked onto the set. "Ishibashi Hikaru!" Again, there was a pause for the applause to die down. This time Hikaru engaged in banter with the hosts as well. "And, last but not least, Tsuruga Ren!"

The audience's applause and squeals grew so loud that Kanae muted the TV. Kyoko watched as the three men she knew so well stood on stage waiting to find out their fate. The camera panned to three curtains.

"Behind each curtain is one of your dates. You go first, Ishibashi-san," the host encouraged. Hikaru opened the curtain, finding a rather meek young woman inside. She wore a badge identifying her as a 20-year-old college student named Hiromi.

"Fuwa-san, you're up," One of the comedians said, pushing him to the next curtain. Inside sat a girl that Kyoko thought looked a bit like a toned-down Setsu. She had a nose piercing and wore a single dyed strand of hair, and her leather jacket certainly suggested she was a bit punk. Her badge said she was a 25-year-old bartender. Kyoko noted that she had a sizeable chest, and thought to herself that given the chance Sho would definitely be taking her to bed that night.

"And last, Tsuruga-san." Ren walked up to his curtain with little encouragement needed and opened it to find the show's goofy old man sidekick inside.

"You're not Tsuruga-san's date!" One of the comedian hosts feigned outrage. "Get out of here!" They faked a squabble for a few minutes before the other comedian host brought out a tall girl. She was dressed in a sexy blue dress, but wore a feminine coat to keep herself warm. Her hair was long and the make-up job on her face made her look as pretty as any model. The badge she wore read that she was Maimi-san, a 21-year-old office worker.

After each couple was introduced, banter ensued as the couples prepared to spin a wheel to determine the location of their romantic Valentine's date. Ren and Maimi would be going on a dinner cruise. Sho looked smug when he and his date were picked to go to a fancy restaurant atop a famous hotel. Hikaru and his date were going to a park after dinner at a French restaurant.

The show went to commercial and then performances from music acts to give the couples time to get to their destinations. Kyoko took the break to go to the bathroom and grab more chocolate from Kanae's kitchen.

While he was off camera, Ren began to text Kyoko. The first text was an emoji indicating boredom, shortly followed by text in English. _In the car_ , he informed her.

Kyoko quickly texted back, trying to remember English spelling. _How are you?_

Ren returned her text even faster. _Maimi isn't crazy. Yet._ Then shortly after, _Camera's about to turn back on_

Kyoko turned her eyes back to the TV. It showed Ren helping Maimi out of the car. Kyoko swore she saw him slip his phone back into his pocket.

On the TV, a "reporter" for the variety show began to quiz the couple as they walked to the boat where the dinner cruise would take place.

"So, Maimi-chan, are you a fan of Tsuruga-san's, or did you just enter the contest for fun?" The reporter asked her.

"I've been a fan of Tsuruga-sama's for a little over a year," Maimi replied. "I fell in love with him on Dark Moon and then went back to watch all of his roles. I also have a few of the posters from his modeling gigs."

"Thank you for supporting me," Ren said formally.

"Do you often talk to fans, Tsuruga-san?" The reporter asked.

"No. Usually I'm far too busy," Ren said. "I'm eating, sleeping, or working."

"Then when do you go on dates?"

"Never," Ren responded gravely. That elicited a good laugh from the audience.

"Are you looking forward to dinner, Maimi?" The reporter shifted focus to the less troublesome one. Although Ren was getting laughs, the reporter would never get a straight answer out of him.

"Yes! So far, Tsuruga-sama's been very kind to me," Maimi said.

"Then, off you go," the reporter said, ushering them up the gangway to the vessel they would be having dinner on.

Kyoko tuned out as soon as the show began to focus on Sho and his date. She didn't want to see Sho's indecent behavior on display. Her phone buzzed once again.

Ren texted her once more: _The show is paying the bill, so I got the most expensive bottle_. His text was accompanied by a picture of a bottle of wine.

"Mo- who are you texting?" Kanae grabbed her friend's phone. "Tsuruga-san?"

Kyoko nodded. "He's been texting me most of the night."

Kanae knew why – Ren would much rather be with her right now. "So, how's your relationship with him anyways? And those scenes you did with him?"

Kyoko's eyes welled up like they did when she felt guilty about something. "Moko-san! I'm sorry for not telling you earlier!"

"Telling me what earlier?" Kanae demanded.

"We're- Well, we're not really dating, so I don't know, but we've been on a few dates," Kyoko said. Kanae was shocked.

"What?"

Kyoko blushed and nodded.

"When did this happen? Has he done anything to you?" Kanae did not expect any development in Ren and Kyoko's relationship any time soon, let alone such a dramatic change. She worried that it was all due to Ren being too sexually aggressive with Kyoko - Kanae didn't think her friend would make any move on him.

"Julie-san told me I should spend more time with him," Kyoko blushed. "So, I did. One night he just," Kyoko paused, too embarrassed to continue.

"He just?" Kanae raised an eyebrow.

"He confessed," Kyoko said quietly. That surprised Kanae even more. Ren wasn't the type to just up and confess. With the looks Kanae caught him giving to Kyoko, she thought he'd be the type to just eat her alive. She figured Kyoko wasn't telling her the whole story.

"Why did he confess?"

"I don't know," Kyoko replied. "I still wonder why he did, and why I accepted it. I can't believe he likes me." Kyoko did believe it, but only after hearing his past and seeing his reaction to her nudity, both things she couldn't tell Kanae about.

"Has he at least kissed you or anything?" Kanae asked.

Kyoko's blush intensified. "A couple of times."

"What was it like?"

"It was nice," Kyoko admitted. She wished he'd do it more, but she wouldn't admit that. "Although he's always a bit hesitant, particularly on set."

"No wonder," Kanae sighed. It was a relief to hear that he wasn't pushing her into anything she didn't want. "You're not the type of girl to have sex on the first date. Even if you have to do it for a job, he probably thinks he'll offend you."

Kyoko nodded, confirming Kanae's assessment of the situation.

"Has he been okay during those risqué scenes?"

"Yeah," Kyoko responded. "Although he's nervous, he understands what I'm comfortable with and sticks to that."

"And what are you comfortable with?"

Kyoko blushed. "Just kissing!"

"But don't you have to go further?"

"I rely on the character I'm playing then," Kyoko protested.

Kanae made a noise as she nodded. Kyoko's phone buzzed again.

 _Please help,_ the text read. _She's a bit_ , the text cut off.

 _A bit?_ Kyoko typed for her response.

 _Sexual when drunk._ This text was in Japanese.

Kyoko's mind went blank, so Kanae grabbed the phone. "What's he saying?" She asked, seeing the text was all in English. Kanae assumed that using English was a good way to keep their conversation private, although she didn't know Ren was fluent in it.

"The date is getting too indecent with him?" Kyoko tried to say.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I don't know," Kyoko admitted. She typed another text, wanting to figure out what was going on. _Sexual?_

Seconds later her phone buzzed. _Sorry, that was for Yashiro. She's saying crude things._

Unfortunately, Kyoko didn't know what crude meant. _Crude?_

Ren's text came back. _She's asking adult questions._

 _Hang in there!_ Kyoko typed, not knowing how else to respond. She sent a cheerleader emoji with the text. He didn't send her a text back, so she assumed he would be on the show again soon.

The show turned back to his date, and sure enough, one hour into their dinner his date was inebriated.

"I'm sorry, Tsuruga-samaaaa, I don't usually get this drunk," Maimi slurred out. "But the wine was so goooood."

The reporter had shown up to check into their date. "Did you have any of the wine, Tsuruga-san?"

"Only one glass," Ren said, indicating the half-full glass of wine next to him. "I need to drive tonight, so I figured I shouldn't drink more than that to be safe."

"So responsible," the reporter complemented him. "Will you be driving her home as well?" That statement was meant as a joke, and because the reporter hadn't heard their drunken conversation, the reporter had no idea that it wasn't a joke to the couple any more.

"No," Ren replied simply. "I have other obligations after this."

Suddenly, Maimi's voice added to the mix as well. "I already asked if he'd sleep with me, but he said no. I think he already has someone in mind for tonight. He's been texting someone!"

The reporter asked Ren for his phone, which he gladly handed over. The reporter tried to read his most recent messages, but all were boring details of his schedule to his manager. "Your texts are so boring, Tsuruga-san," The reporter commented. "Do you really only text your manager?"

Ren nodded. "I don't like to get too caught up in technology. It distracts me from my work," he told the reporter. His strategy had worked – he had given the reporter the work phone he only used to contact Yashiro, Lory, and various other employees of LME about work. Most of the time he didn't even bother with that. He kept his personal phone – the one he used the vast majority of the time even with Yashiro – to text Kyoko.

"Even when you're working though?" The reporter asked in disbelief.

"Like I said earlier, I don't do much but work," Ren said through what Kyoko knew to be his incredibly angry smile.

"So you're going on a date with your manager after this?" The reporter joked. The reporter was now directing all the questions at Ren, trying not to embarrass the very drunk Maimi more than he already had. She was a civilian, and therefore didn't make for an acceptable target.

"No, this dinner was very filling," Ren answered. He waved an arm at the window beside him. "The view is gorgeous as well. Much moreso than I could get at the agency offices."

Soon after they switched back to the studio, Kyoko got one more text. _Heading back to studio. Then club. Then home._ He placed a sleep emoji after the text.

"Mo- Tsuruga-san seems really annoyed tonight," Kanae said. She knew Kyoko said the man wasn't excited for the show, but she could only imagine what he was feeling now that he had to deal with a drunk fan.

"I'm wondering if I should go see him," Kyoko said sheepishly.

Kanae's eyes went wide, completely misinterpreting what her friend intended to do.

"Moko-san! Not like that," Kyoko exclaimed, completely flustered.

"It might be a good idea, then," Kanae said. "If you don't go calm him down tonight, I'm afraid he'd go bite of the heads of anyone he works with tomorrow."

Kyoko hugged her friend. "I'll be going then, but I don't have to leave until 8:30."

Kanae pried herself free from her friend so that they could keep watching the show until Kyoko had to leave. "Just stay safe, okay?"

"Of course, Moko-san."

* * *

Ren wandered up to his apartment tired and annoyed as hell.

The special had been irritating. Even after the debriefing segment of the show, his date was still a bit too flirty to deal with. Once Maimi say that Sho was grabbing his date's butt and leading her to the nearest hotel on the way back to the studio, Maimi tried to do the same to Ren. He was lucky that his martial arts training as a kid prevented her from effectively grabbing his butt. His acting ability allowed him to convince her that it would be a better choice to go to the studio instead. At least he got the satisfaction of seeing that Sho was still so immature he'd chose sex over the money he'd get paid for doing the variety special.

His appearance at the club also ended up being more painful than he thought it would be. The promoter tried to get him to stay much longer than he wanted to and attempted to force more alcohol down his throat in hopes that he'd sleep with a lucky fan. Getting the famously elusive Ren to do that would not only make the promoter famous – it would also make him a lot of money. Ren tried to leave as quickly as possible, but was kept until he took one shot. He had the bartender give him exactly one shot of water (requested when the promoter's back was turned) and left the building.

Because his night had been so otherwise shitty, he was shocked to see Kyoko sitting in front of his door. She looked up and gave him a bright smile as he approached. Without words, they both went into his apartment.

"Would you like a warm bath?" Kyoko asked. Ren shook his head. "You should really take one," Kyoko insisted.

"I'll take a shower tomorrow morning," Ren replied. "I just want to sleep." Not caring that Kyoko was watching, he began to strip on his way to the bedroom. Once inside, he put all of his dirty clothes into the laundry hamper. To his surprise, Kyoko did the same. She pulled out the matching pajamas Julie had gotten for them and handed Ren's set to him. He went into the bathroom to change.

Ren came out of his bathroom to see Kyoko wearing her pajamas. A family matching set of pajamas wasn't sexy at all to Ren, but it certainly did bring warm and fuzzy feelings to him. Somehow, Kyoko always knew what he needed. He picked Kyoko up, tucked her in under the covers, and snuggled up next to her. Somehow all of the frustration of his evening went away, and as it had been that morning, Valentine's Day was perfect again.

* * *

 **A/N:** Nothing citrusy here. Next chapter should have more. It's the wrap party!


	16. The Wrap

**Try Me**

 **A/N:** A bit more romantic I guess? More parties. More citrus.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Skip Beat

* * *

 **The Wrap**

Kyoko sighed as she walked into the elevator. They had just finished the last shoot for the movie that day and yet she was expected to get herself looking perfect for the wrap party. She donned a feminine maroon lace gown she'd picked out with the help of Kanae and Chiori. Somehow the color made her feel like it was something Setsu would wear, even if it wasn't very daring. The sky-high matching heels she'd borrowed from Kanae were hard to walk in, but were the only shoes that would look good with the dress. Although hidden by her hair, she wore the ruby studs Ren had given her.

Despite the primping it required to prepare her, Kyoko felt out of place in the glass elevator of one of Tokyo's most expensive hotels, going to a party at one of Tokyo's most famous restaurants, which provided some of Tokyo's most famous views.

The hotel staff wasn't exactly filling her with confidence that she belonged: because she wasn't quite famous enough yet to be recognized (and her name wasn't officially connected to the movie), she was ID'd several times before they finally gave her the keycard that would allow her to take the elevator to the restaurant. When she exited the elevator, she was surprised to see that the restaurant was nearly empty. The only people inside were a few members of the crew, Director Ueda, and two of her fellow actors. She wondered how everyone else was so late. At least Ren had the excuse of a modeling job running late.

As soon as she stepped out, the director approached her. She could smell the alcohol on his breath, and suspected he was already very drunk.

"Kyoko-chan!" He exclaimed. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and brought her up to the bar. "Would you like a drink?"

"I'm underage," Kyoko pointed out. She was surprised something as little as alcohol would make him forget her age. He was preoccupied enough with it on set that she thought he'd never forget.

"Well, then, a Shirley Temple it is," he ordered for her. Kyoko didn't know what the drink was, but didn't see the bartender pour any alcohol into it, so she assumed it was safe to drink.

"Kyoko-chan," Director Ueda said again. He wasn't incredibly drunk – yet – so Kyoko thought she could stand to talk to him a bit longer. "Matsuda-chan," the actress playing Kyoko's best friend in the movie, "would have been shit at the role. I can't believe I almost signed her on to do it."

Kyoko gulped, suddenly understanding why the actress was so hostile to her.

"You've been great in it," he beamed. "Better than expected, given your age and experience. I'd say you'll be up for awards this year. You were probably the best actress in this damn film."

Kyoko stared at him, wondering if he was only gushing praise due to the alcohol. He was never nearly that kind on set.

"And the sex scenes! Not that you weren't clumsy at all in kissing, but your chemistry with Ren. I still wonder if you're fucking him sometimes," Director Ueda said.

It was at this point that Kyoko knew it was the alcohol talking and not him, and the alcohol was insanely creepy and uncomfortable. "Well, I should go talk to the others," she said meekly, trying to slip off.

"That's fine," Director Ueda said. "Tell Murasame-kun to come over here."

In the few short seconds she had been "talking" to the director many of the other actors had arrived, barely on time. Kyoko tried to leave and talk to them but was quickly stopped by the bartender handing her whatever drink had been ordered for her. She grabbed it and scampered off, eager to get away from the drunk director.

"Ah! Kyoko-chan," one of the older actresses called. "Come sit down with us." Kyoko noticed that all the actresses present had grabbed a table. The actors were relegated to another table.

"Good evening," Kyoko replied. She walked over to the table and sat.

Everyone was startled when the director called out, telling them that dinner would be served soon.

"I had to get you away from him," the actress who called her over, Ms. Sugaya, said. Kyoko knew she had been in Ueda's movies before, so she knew the director well. Despite being older than even Kyoko's mother, Kyoko knew the actress was more eager than many young stars to keep up on gossip. There's no way she wouldn't know what he was like. "He gets really embarrassing while drunk. Not actually threatening, but _very_ embarrassing."

Kyoko thanked her.

"But you seem to handle mature things well for your age," one actress, Mrs. Hongo, commented. "I would have never dreamed of doing a scene like that at eighteen. I'm what? Thirty-three and a mom, but I can't stand them!"

"We all know you'd do it if it was with Ren-kun," Sugaya joked.

"Wouldn't we all?" A voice came. It was Kyoko's former rival for the role, Rino. She was carrying a cocktail of her own. Rino sat down next to Kyoko. "Where is he, by the way? Isn't he always on time?"

"He had a modeling job tonight. I think he said he'd be here an hour late," Kyoko said.

"Good. Then I can ask you," Mrs. Hongo asked. "What's he like? A good kisser? A big dick?"

Kyoko blushed and looked down at the table.

"So you didn't sleep with him?" Rino gasped. "You two had us all convinced with the way you've been looking at each other!"

"Well, he and some girl did manage to convince an entire cast and crew that they were incestuous siblings," Ms. Sugaya pointed out.

"That wasn't you too, Kyoko? The sister, I mean," Rino joked.

Kyoko's blush intensified.

"It _was_ you! Now you really have no excuse for not knowing," Rino told Kyoko, obviously upset.

"Now, now," said Ms. Sugaya. "Maybe the rumor that he's gay is true?"

"No!" Kyoko rushed to defend him. "I know he's not."

"Really?" Ms. Sugaya raised an eyebrow. "Then how has he not slept with any actresses yet? I know many of my younger counterparts would be eager. Not to mention he's been alone with you in locked rooms many times, and he obviously likes you."

"He-," Kyoko paused, trying to find out what to say. "He's married to the job. He never as any energy to spend on girls."

"Even you?"

"W- well," again, Kyoko felt herself lost for words. Then, she remembered something. "He's actually really shy about body. He even has a line in his contracts preventing him from being shown nude below the waist."

"I wonder why? His body is great," Rino drooled. "Every girl in Japan probably has a shirtless picture of him."

"That's such bullshit," Mrs. Hongo said. "Why can he have that in his contract but we have to show everything?"

"But you had to kiss him for the movie, certainly you can at least tell us about that," Rino goaded Kyoko.

"I don't really know if he was good or not," Kyoko admitted. "I've only ever kissed him, and only for this movie."

"You're only eighteen," Mrs. Hongo said. "You'll have time."

"Maybe even with Ren-kun, if you ask him," Ms. Sugaya added.

"They would make a good couple," Mrs. Hongo said. "And if she really was asked to play his fake sister for that movie, it certainly has to be obvious enough that the powers that be know it."

Rino looked angry, but she couldn't deny that what the other women were saying was correct.

Kyoko was grateful when the buffet of food was set out. That would distract them long enough to hopefully change the topic. At the buffet, though, she was unlucky enough to run into Murasame, who was just in front of her in line.

"Mogami-san," he acknowledged her. "I didn't see you there."

"Good evening, Murasame-san," she greeted him.

He recognized her voice. The way the maroon looked next to her pale skin was also familiar. Still, he didn't have enough evidence she was Setsu. "When's Tsuruga getting here?"

"I don't know. I think he said he'd be an hour late," Kyoko said.

Murasame knew they were close, and the fact that she knew his schedule was enough evidence of that.

"Are you enjoying the party?"

"Yeah," Murasame said, thoroughly distracted by the possibility of Kyoko being Setsu.

Kyoko began to pick food up from the buffet onto her plate. Instinctively, she grabbed a second plate and began stacking it with food.

"Who's the other plate for?"

"Tsuruga-san," Kyoko replied. "He hates eating meals, and he'll use the excuse that the buffet's been picked clean to not eat dinner. I'm getting him food now so he can't say that."

Another point of suspicion. Just like Setsu, Kyoko was determined to force Ren to eat. Before he could confront her about that point, she had gone back to the table the actresses occupied. He would have to wait.

Ren entered the party much earlier than he was expecting. Although the modeling shoot's schedule was set to last long enough to make him a full hour late, he was lucky enough to end early. He rushed to change in his dressing room and left Yashiro to get home on his own.

When he entered the party, he saw the room was relatively segregated. While the crowd was mixed around the buffet and bar, the tables were obviously split into males and females. Kyoko was at a table with many of the female cast and crew. He wasn't about to disturb her, but he also didn't want to eat, so he went to the bar to grab a glass of whiskey.

"Oh! You're here, Tsuruga-san. I thought you were going to be late," Ms. Sugaya said. "I think Kyoko got a plate of food for you."

Before he could order, Ms. Sugaya led him to the table of women.

"Ah! Tsuruga-san," Kyoko said, obviously surprised he was early.

"Good evening, Mogami-san," he replied.

"I knew you wouldn't eat, so I got you a plate of food." She picked up a very full plate of food, filled with a chicken breast, salad, and bread from the buffet.

"Thank you very much," he said, taking the plate off her hands. "Would you mind if I sat here?"

"Yes, actually," Mrs. Hongo said. Kyoko knew the cocktails were getting to her. "Women only here, if you hadn't noticed."

"Unless you bother to take your shirt off for us," Rino said. Kyoko didn't realize that she was drunk as well.

Ren pretended to do so just to tease Kyoko's drunk compatriots, but quickly made it clear that he wasn't going to do so. "Why don't I just go over to the men?"

"Hey, Tsuruga-kun," Director Ueda said. "You should stay away from the women tonight."

As if he didn't already know – all seemed drunk but Kyoko and maybe Ms. Sugaya. Drunken actresses were dangerous, particularly actresses with as blatant a crush on him as Rino had. Then again, Director Ueda was also drunk, and he'd heard the stories.

"Yeah, they've been grilling Kyoko-chan about seeing you naked all night," one older actor said.

"I see," Ren said, trying not to comment.

"Oh, and Tsuruga-kun, after the party tonight, make sure to tell her we're trying to get the edit done in time for Cannes," Director Ueda said.

"That soon?"

"Well, I already had planned for that to be the debut, but I had to wait for _someone_ to turn eighteen first."

"As long as you're sure you can get it done," Ren said, a deadly smile on his face.

"We will. Just make sure your boss knows so she can come," Director Ueda said. Mercifully, he walked away after saying that.

Ren was stuck with the men for the rest of the party, as the women were keeping to themselves and their alcohol at their table. He saw that Kyoko was rather uncomfortable with some of the conversation, but they wouldn't let her leave.

After trying to make polite conversation for an hour, Ren decided he couldn't stand the party any longer. While Kuon had enjoyed such parties for the flowing alcohol, Ren found them rather tedious. Being drunk wasn't fun anymore, and these parties weren't fun if you weren't drunk. He'd managed to down one glass of whisky, but he didn't desire any more than that.

"Mogami-san?" He asked, approaching the imposing table. "I was wondering if you needed a ride home?"

"You're leaving?" Kyoko asked. He couldn't tell if her surprise indicated she wanted to stay or was eager to get out of whatever conversation the women around her were having.

"I have to get up rather early tomorrow," Ren replied. "I figured you didn't have a ride home tonight, so I wanted to make sure you'd be able to get one if you wanted to stay longer."

"No. It's fine. I have to get up for school tomorrow as well," Kyoko told him. She got up and grabbed her purse and jacket from the back of her chair. "Tonight was really fun," she said to the fellow women of the cast. "Thank you for talking to me." She bowed.

Murasame watched as Kyoko and Ren walked out of the room. They were close enough that he could have easily been holding her around the waist like a couple. With Kyoko wearing heels, the height difference between them was less pronounced. That convinced him that Kyoko was likely the one behind Setsu. He wondered if he should even ask for confirmation. He wouldn't gain Kyoko's attention – that much was obvious.

* * *

Inside Ren's car, they sat down and sighed together.

"Can I go to your apartment tonight, Kuon?"

Ren turned to her, surprised she'd want to go home with him. "I thought you had to go to school tomorrow?"

"I lied," Kyoko said.

"I lied too," Ren echoed, finding it funny that both he and Kyoko were so desperate to leave that they had lied.

"Tonight was so uncomfortable," Kyoko groaned.

"What happened?" Ren asked.

"They were all so perverted! They said the Director was bad when drunk, but you should have heard them," Kyoko paused. "Or maybe not."

"And why not?"

"Well, Rino-san kept asking about seeing you naked, and got upset when I told them I didn't know," Kyoko tried to explain.

"I heard about that part," Ren said. "I'm so happy she didn't get the part."

"You knew about that?"

"I think everyone did but you," Ren replied. "Ueda-sensei didn't want you to feel guilty or apologize to her."

"Why not?" Kyoko asked.

"He thinks you're too kind to understand it's fairly normal to lose roles at the last minute," Ren explained her. He tried to change her line of thought by asking a simple question. "What else happened today?"

Kyoko took he question the wrong way. "Well, Sugaya-san kept asking about sex. I think she wants gossip, but I kept telling her we hadn't done anything! Then Rino-san and Hongo-san actually answered the question!"

Ren opened his mouth to try to respond, but Kyoko kept talking.

"Hongo-san actually shared, in graphic detail, the birth of her child. And then she and Sugaya-san talked about sex after giving birth." Ren felt like throwing up just from hearing Kyoko's account of the conversation. "And then, Rino-san told us that she hooked up with Murasame! And that she planned to see if he was free after the party." Ren somehow felt even more nauseated by that.

"My day went much better," Ren said, forcing her away from her topic. "I got the news on that drama. Filming will start next week."

"The one about college students?"

"Yeah," Ren said. "It was really late notice."

"I was surprised! I thought you would try for another historical drama," Kyoko told him. "But for whatever reason they don't cast you in those enough."

"I look too white," Ren sighed. "I can easily pass in modern dramas, but they like a very classically Japanese facial structure in historical dramas. I also can't risk playing any white character in a historical drama, and that's often the parts they offer me."

Kyoko nodded. "I'm surprised by that! I think for only being a quarter Japanese, you look very Japanese. Enough for one of those dramas, certainly."

"I wish you were the casting agent, then," Ren chucked. "Speaking of the West, you may be going to Europe at the end of May."

Kyoko perked up, intrigued. "Really?"

"Ueda-sensei has submitted the film to Cannes," Ren told her.

"Cannes?"

"It's a famous film festival in France," Ren replied. "I may or may not be going, but it sounds like Ueda-sensei really wants the star of his film to go."

"Will Dad be there?" Kyoko still felt awkward about calling Kuu "Dad" in front of Ren, but he kept assuring her it was alright.

"He will if you'll be there," Ren said. "But he usually doesn't go. Action movies don't typically get screened there."

"Why not?"

"It's more for movies like this one – more dramatic and made for awards," Ren tried to explain.

"I see," Kyoko replied. "Hopefully he'll come."

"Hopefully," Ren said. He didn't actually know if he wanted his father there. A week with Kyoko in a romantic location seemed more appealing without his father present.

* * *

Back at Ren's apartment, Ren had begun to draw a bath. Kyoko was in his bathroom laboring to take her make-up off without the help of make-up removing wipes. That was one toiletry Julie had forgotten to provide.

"Kyoko?" Ren asked from around the corner where the bathtub sat. "Would you like the first bath?"

Kyoko looked up and considered his question. "Would you like to go in first? My make-up's not completely off yet."

"I'll tell you when I'm done," Ren said. He disappeared back around the wall. She saw his arm reach around the corner to drop his clothes into the hamper.

Kyoko found herself wondering what to do as she removed the last of her make-up. The conversations from earlier that night, no matter how uncomfortable they were, made her want to get into the bath with Ren. They'd already spent enough time naked together, so she wasn't nervous about that aspect. Rather, she worried that she would be imposing on him. Last time she tried to do anything with him, Ren had seemed nervous to go too far.

Eventually, she let the strange mix of curiosity and jealousy she felt take over. She hung her dress up in the closet and shed her underclothes into the hamper. Then, she took a deep breath and prepared herself.

Ren was shocked when he saw a naked Kyoko walking into the bathing room. She sat down on his stool and began to wash off. While he was tempted to watch, he closed his eyes, worrying that she didn't want his eyes on her.

"Kyoko, I'm still here," he warned her.

She turned around to face him. "I know," she said confidently.

Ren was thoroughly flummoxed – this wasn't like her. Then again, in preparation for the movie she'd done a whole bunch of things he didn't expect, but he thought that would end as soon as filming finished.

"Do- do you not want me to join you?" Kyoko asked, once more questioning his motives. Sometimes she still doubted that he loved her, especially after seeing all of the more beautiful and willing women he could have instead. Even last time, he gave her mixed messages. While he told her he loved her and wanted to wait until she could ask him confidently, it also made her wonder if she only liked confident women. She didn't consider herself confident.

"Do you want to join me?" Ren asked after listening to her wash up for a few minutes.

Kyoko gulped, steadying herself for her response. "Yes."

"Then you're more than welcome to join me."

Kyoko blushed. She rinsed off one final time before she stood to enter the bath. She didn't look into the water as she slowly slipped herself into the tub so that she was facing him. Instead, she watched his eyes staring at her with interest. It made her feel sexier than ever before to have Ren's eyes watching her like that.

After Kyoko settled into the water, she wondered if just sitting opposite was enough. Some part of her wanted to crawl across the tub and curl up with him, but her nervousness held her back. Still, to get closer, she knew she had to take initiative. Without speaking, she maneuvered herself so she was sitting next to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He was surprised, so he turned towards her. She took that opportunity to give him a kiss on the lips.

Ren positioned his nose so it rubbed hers and then put their foreheads together. "Are you okay?"

Kyoko made a nodding motion against his face.

"Is this about what the other actresses were talking to you about?"

Kyoko pulled her head away and shook her head. "I guess that's some of it, but, most of it's me."

"What do you mean?"

"W- well, I guess over the course of the movie, and since you confessed, I've really wanted to," Kyoko paused, nervous to admit what she wanted. Ren's insistence about being confident forced her to go. "I've wanted to have sex with you, even if we don't go all the way this soon."

Ren moved his forehead back to her own. "I just wanted to make sure you didn't feel pressure to do this. I want it to be your choice."

"It is," she assured him. "But you're free to say no, if you don't want to."

"If I didn't want to, I wouldn't be here," Ren said. Then, in English, he continued. "God, I love you so much, but you need to give yourself more credit."

Kyoko pulled back again, looking at him in surprise.

"You're so sexy and you don't even realize it," Ren told her. "And that's just one of the many things I love about you. I don't know how you think I could look at someone else the way I look at you." To hammer home his point, he pressed his lips onto hers for a passionate kiss. When he pulled back, he saw that Kyoko had a slightly frazzled expression on her face.

"Maybe," Kyoko waited while she gathered her wits again. "Maybe we can continue after the bath?"

"Soaking feels good right now," Ren said. He wrapped an arm around her and let her head rest on his shoulder. "So I'm okay with that plan."

Unfortunately, that plan didn't wholly work out. When the water began to get cold, Ren prepared to get out, but he found Kyoko was already asleep. He woke her up just long enough to let her dry off and go to bed, but as soon as she hit the bed she fell back asleep. He didn't fare much better. He couldn't even bring himself to put pants on before climbing into bed and falling asleep.

* * *

 **A/N:** I intended to let this be more citrusy, but considering the chapter got a lot longer than I intended, I'll just put that stuff in the next chapter.


	17. The Next Step

**Try Me**

 **A/N:** Actual citrus content ahead (but only a lime)!

Maybe it's because I write more for my own whims than the audience (though having a happy audience is great), whenever someone asks me for a lemon, I'm less inclined to include it... I put them in when I feel they're appropriate for the characters/story at that point in time. For some reason when someone's asking for a lemon it reminds me it's not time to force one in.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Skip Beat

* * *

 **The Next Step**

Kyoko woke up in the morning to find she was in Ren's bed. She rolled over to see if he was still in bed, and was pleased to see a giant Ren-shaped lump next to her. Without thinking, she dragged her hand down his back. Because she hadn't gotten what she wanted the night before, she was eager to at least get one touch of him before she had to leave.

Under her hand, she felt Ren stir. He made a strange groaning noise before his arms emerged from below the sheets and reached above his head. His eyes opened and began to focus on Kyoko.

"Good morning," Kyoko said. Ignoring her lack of clothing, she leaned down and gave him a kiss on the lips.

"Good morning," he grumbled back in English. His tendency to speak English first thing in the morning was something Kyoko thought was part of Cain's character. It was only after she found out his real name that she realized it was a sign of sleepiness.

She kissed him again, this time harder. She hoped he would respond. One arm lazily grabbed the back of her head while the other propped him up on the bed. Only a few short seconds later his arms went lax and he collapsed back onto the bed.

"Do I have to get out of bed?" Ren asked. He turned his head to look at his alarm clock.

"No," Kyoko said in her best seductive voice. She tried to figure out how to follow that up without sounding cheesy, but determined it was impossible. "But you'll have to kiss me again."

Ren suddenly felt more awake with Kyoko's declaration. He grabbed Kyoko around the waist, pulled her on top of him, and began to kiss her hungrily. Kyoko wrapped her hands around her back as best she could while he was lying down, eagerly grabbing at his skin.

Kyoko released his lips to stare into his eyes for a few seconds before she went back to kissing him. She tried not to flinch in surprise as she felt one of his hands begin to grope her butt. As a revenge ploy, she moved her lips from his own and began to kiss down his neck. She considered giving him a hickey, but decided against it. Because she went home with Ren the night before, it would be obvious who did it.

Ren slowly maneuvered Kyoko onto her back and detached her lips from his neck so that he could easily reach her breasts with his mouth and hands. He kept one hand on her butt, ensuring he could control her position. Kyoko let out a soft moan, and he knew he was on the right track. Although he was nervous to do so, he dipped the hand on her butt between her legs. Slowly, he put one finger of the hand between her labia, testing how wet she was. At that point, she flinched and let out a cute little noise of surprise.

"Are you okay?" Ren asked instinctively, breaking the moment.

Kyoko nodded. "I was just surprised. But it felt good."

Ren collapsed in relief on top of her. As his torso moved up when he flopped down, his erection fell right over her crotch. She yelped as he fell, but her hips rolled instinctively against his, causing him to groan. Kyoko surprised both herself and Ren as she brought her hand down to Ren's butt and pressed him closer.

Ren moved his mouth down to kiss hers once again, and moved his fingers back between her legs. He began to stroke her as his lips moved against hers. As he did, her hips began to roll against his more frequently. Kyoko's hand moved down his torso slowly.

Then, breaking the moment, an alarm began to blare in the room.

Ren rolled off Kyoko and brought one arm over his eyes. Kyoko stared at the alarm clock and saw that it was much earlier than she expected.

"I guess I forgot to turn the usual alarm off," Ren grumbled as he hit the button to cancel the alarm. "We should still get up. Don't you have exams this afternoon?"

"I do," Kyoko said. She had been studying the whole last week on set, but had entirely forgotten about it at the party last night.

"So you'll need to go home and change at the very least," Ren sighed. He checked his phone, which was left on his nightstand. "It looks like I need to go talk to Lory about my new drama anyways."

"Why?"

"We need to iron out the final details of my contract. There were a few items that he was still negotiating. I guess they need me to sign today due to my late casting." He texted Lory back to confirm he'd show up that morning and then got out of bed to dress. He was surprised to catch Kyoko's eyes on him as he stood up.

"I should get dressed too," Kyoko said. She tried to get out of bed, but Ren was one step ahead: he was laying out a complete outfit for her at the foot of the bed.

"It's more efficient this way," Ren explained.

Kyoko cocked her head in confusion.

"You, naked, in the closet with me. What do you think will happen?" Ren asked her.

Kyoko blushed. "We'd never get out of the apartment today." Even if they didn't go all the way, Ren knew he would be happy just to spend the day touching a naked Kyoko.

This time Kyoko's phone buzzed. Ren walked out of the closet fully dressed with the exception of a tie and blazer and picked it up for her, seeing that she was still putting on her tights under her dress. "Lory wants to see you as well. Do you have time today?"

"No," Kyoko replied.

"Tomorrow?"

"Can you tell him I can be there after school?"

"Yeah. Do you want any breakfast?" Ren asked her.

"Do you have any breakfast you can cook?" Kyoko asked.

"Well, I have been practicing making scrambled eggs," Ren admitted.

"Maybe those then?"

"Sure," Ren said. "Meet me in the kitchen when you're ready to go."

* * *

The next evening, Kyoko stood outside the doors of Lory's office. She nervously awaited Sebastian's greeting. When it finally came, she wasn't quite ready. There was no reason Lory should meet with her, so she was worried that he had found something inopportune out.

"Ah, Good evening, Mogami-kun," Lory greeted her.

"Good evening," Kyoko said as calmly as possible.

"We have a few things to discuss tonight, I believe?" Lory phrased it as a question, but Kyoko knew it wasn't one.

Kyoko just nodded, wondering what she should say.

"The first order of business is your new drama offers. I trust you've looked at them?"

In reality, Kyoko hadn't had time to do much more than read a summary of the dramas. All but one were teen dramas. "Not enough time."

"Well, I expect you to tell me the final two you're down to today. The acting division wants answers so we know what auditions to book you for," Lory told her.

"I'm thinking of the drama where I would play an idol," Kyoko said. "It would be a type of role I've never played before."

"That wasn't what I was thinking of, but it might be interesting," Lory said. "You realize you'll be playing an idol as she is brought down by scandal, correct? And it is the lead role?"

Kyoko hadn't realized that. "It will stretch my abilities."

"And the other choice?"

"The sports anime adaptation," Kyoko said. "I like that character. She's really girly, and yet she's so good at sports as well."

"Hmm… I don't know if you'll have a good shot at that role because you don't look very muscular, but if you'd like to try," Lory advised her. "They're making an ice skating drama. I believe there's a part you may be able to play in that. Ice skaters are more slender and graceful – more your body type. Besides, the director expressed interest in you last time I saw him."

"But I've never even stepped onto the ice," Kyoko protested.

"That doesn't matter," Lory said. "They'll use stunt doubles, and you'll get to wear pretty dresses." He knew how to coax Kyoko into things. This drama was sure to be a hit, and he wanted her in it.

"But will I have time?"

"It's a supporting role – you're a friend and competitor of one of the main characters," Lory said. "You'd have to take some time to train basic ice skating skills, but it should be okay."

"Maybe I'll try that, then," Kyoko replied, still doubting she would have a shot at the role.

"Now that that's done. The second order of business is the project you just finished. Ueda-san submitted the film to Cannes," Lory told her.

"Tsuruga-san said he was thinking about that," Kyoko said.

"I doubt he can get the editing done in just three months so they can screen it there, but just in case I'm altering your schedule accordingly. If he's not done, the film will debut in Toronto," Lory explained. "Either way, you're going to Toronto in September, so I'm working on getting your trips booked right now."

Kyoko nodded.

"What I want to know from you is if you will be wanting to travel before or after the film festivals."

"Travel?" Kyoko asked.

"Well, I would assume you would want to see France," Lory suggested. "And even though I doubt you want to see Canada, the US is right next door."

"I don't really have the money to do that right now," Kyoko said.

"You certainly do," Lory corrected her. "You made 25 million yen on the movie."

Kyoko's eyes widened with surprise. She'd never made anywhere near that much on any of her dramas.

"Welcome, my dear, to being a rising star and the lead actress in a movie," Lory said. "And since you're only a rising star, you'll certainly make more on future films. If you go on to Hollywood, 25 million yen will seem like pocket change."

Kyoko just stared at him blankly.

"Well, just tell me by next week what you've decided. I'm sure Sawara-san would appreciate the notice when trying to make your schedules," Lory advised her.

Kyoko nodded.

"And one final thing: I have another LoveMe job for you," Lory said.

Kyoko had been too busy the past few months to do anything for the LoveMe section, so she was rather confused. "A LoveMe job?"

"Ren-kun had to leave the country rather suddenly, so his apartment is probably a wreck. Would you mind checking it for me?" Lory asked her. He rifled through his desk and took out a key card and a key to hand to Kyoko. "He'll be back in about a week, so there's no need to hurry."

Kyoko was worried. She wondered if something was wrong with his parents, but she couldn't ask without giving away the fact that she knew his real name. "Do you know why he left?"

"It might be better to ask him that yourself, Mogami-kun," he answered cryptically.

Kyoko got up. "I should go see to it that his apartment is taken care of, then." She bowed and rushed out of the office, reaching frantically for her phone so that she could text Ren. _Is everything okay?_ She asked.

It was an anxious ride over to Ren's apartment as she awaited his response. Realistically he could just be on a plane, but she wasn't thinking logically. Entering his apartment, she saw that very little was out of place. What was out of place she didn't need to clean up. In his bedroom, however, it looked like someone had robbed the place. His suitcase was missing from its place in the closet, as was some of his clothes. The safe where she thought he kept his most important documents was open and empty. Even more clothes littered the floor, as if he had been searching through his drawers for things to pack. She dutifully sorted through his clothes and rearranged them neatly in the closet.

In her pocket, she heard her phone buzz. She quickly took it out, only to find a text from Kanae reminding her of their lunch date the next day.

When Kyoko locked up the apartment, she wondered what could be happening. The Okami tried to calm her down, but since Kyoko couldn't explain the problem, there was nothing she could do.

Only after Kyoko's bath did she find a string of texts from Ren waiting for her. She anxiously read it. _Just landed_. The rest of the texts held a bit more information. _In LA. Waiting for parents to pick me up. Will call tomorrow at around 7am Japan time to explain._

Kyoko sighed, relieved that he had texted her, but nervous about what he had to say. She could hardly sleep, so it was easy to pick up his call the next morning.

"Hello?" Kyoko asked, despite knowing who it was.

"I'm so sorry for worrying you," came Ren's voice. "I was pretty surprised what happened?"

"Are Mom and Dad okay?"

"They're fine. A little too happy to see me, but otherwise fine," Ren joked.

"Then everything's okay?"

"Physically, yes, but not with my visa," Ren replied.

"Your visa?" Kyoko didn't realize Ren didn't have Japanese citizenship, in fact, she thought he would've gotten it from Kuu.

"Japan doesn't allow dual citizenship for people over 22. I had Japanese and US citizenship until my birthday, but I knew I would have to give up one. It was a hard choice, but ultimately I decided to keep my US citizenship because that's where all my important documents are. Because of that, I had to apply for a visa to keep working in Japan," Ren explained, hoping he was making sense to Kyoko. "I got a head start on the paperwork, but I had to return to the US for a few days because the grace period after my birthday expired before the processing was complete."

"So how long will that take?" Kyoko asked him. She was relieved that it was nothing serious, but worried that it would be a while before she could see him again.

"Lory told me no longer than a week from yesterday, so hopefully then."

"That's good," Kyoko sighed. "Do you have any plans?"

"My parents are both working this week, so we won't be doing much besides going out to eat. Lory has given Julie permission to let me do some modeling work, so I might do some projects," Ren replied. "I think Kuu's trying to get me to auditions as well, but I don't know if I'm ready to audition for American projects again yet."

"If you have the chance, I think you should try," Kyoko encouraged him. "Director Ueda's film is going to be seen by people in Hollywood, so they might be seeing you soon anyways."

"I suppose. Well, I'm sorry I have to go so soon, but Mom's demanding that we go to dinner now," Ren told her. "I love you. I'll see you soon."

"I love you too," Kyoko said before hanging her phone up. She could only hope she would see him soon.

* * *

Kyoko met her mother for lunch at an outdoor restaurant near her school. They had begun to meet more frequently, but the filming of her latest movie made it difficult. Thus, this was the first meeting in a couple months and Kyoko was once again nervous to see her mother.

"Did the project you were working on go well?" Saena asked her daughter.

Kyoko nodded. "It was difficult, but really interesting."

"I haven't seen the project listed on your LME profile recently, so I was surprised to hear you talking about it," Saena told her. "Is it not coming out for a while?"

"I think the director's rushing the post-production right now to see if we can debut it sooner rather than later," Kyoko said. "They just haven't put my name on the film yet."

"But aren't you the main character?" Saena asked in disbelief.

"I'm also the least famous cast member," Kyoko said.

"Wouldn't they at least list you?" Saena, despite now showing her daughter affection often, was rather invested in her career.

"No," Kyoko said. "I think they're waiting to list my name until the movie comes out, but they haven't explained why."

"I wonder why myself," Saena said coldly. "When will it premier?"

"If he can get it done in time, at Cannes?"

"Cannes?" Saena sounded surprised. "What kind of film is this?"

"It's Director Ueda's new film," Kyoko said softly, hoping no one would hear.

"So it is a very good opportunity for you," Saena said, returning to a more stoic manner. "Will you be going to Cannes if it debuts there?"

Kyoko nodded. "Actually, I was going to ask," Kyoko paused, nervous about her question. "Would you want to go on vacation to France with me around that time?"

"When would that be?"

"I don't know the exact days I have to be there yet, but sometime in late May?"

"I think I have a case finishing up at that time, so I'll have to check my schedule and get back to you," Saena said. She paused, almost embarrassed to continue. "But, if I have time off, it would be nice. Just tell me if the film will be finished in time as soon as you know."

Kyoko smiled. "Of course!"

* * *

 **A/N:** This chapter is a bit shorter than the last few, but I figure better get something out now than later. I like to try to keep relatively frequent updates. I have two more chapters and an epilogue planned right now.


	18. The Return

**Try Me**

 **A/N:** There's a lemon ahead, so don't read if you aren't 18. I don't really write lemons that are that detailed because I don't like writing them, but this time I tried to do a bit more…

We only have this chapter, the film festival, and an epilogue left! That went fast.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Skip Beat

* * *

 **The Return**

In her dressing room for her new drama, Kyoko reached for her phone as soon has she heard it ringing. It was late April and she still hadn't heard if she was going to Cannes. She wanted to know if she needed to alert her current dramas to her schedule – Kyoko wasn't one to leave them hanging. That morning Lory said she would be receiving a call about the film's debut, so she sat anxiously awaiting it.

"Hello?" Kyoko asked.

"Kyoko," Director Ueda's gruff voice replied. "Somehow we got it done, but they couldn't accept it so late."

"What does that mean?"

"The film will debut in Toronto, about two months before its Japanese premiere," Director Ueda said.

"So we're not going to France?"

"Well, you can go if you want, but the film isn't," the Director told her. "Your agency will update you on the travel later."

"Thank you," Kyoko sighed. She hung up, a little disappointed, but it wouldn't change too many plans. Her mother's case had been pushed back, so she didn't have a French vacation with her mother to cancel. Ren also had no need to adjust to the changes – as soon as R-mandy heard he might be in France, they (and several other companies) had double-booked him for European modeling jobs.

* * *

Kyoko waited anxiously in Ren's apartment. He had been in Europe for nearly two weeks doing modeling gigs. It was made worse by the time difference – almost no time was a good time to call each other. Tonight, he'd finally be back.

Initially, she wanted to pick him up at the airport, but no matter what she did it would look wrong. Lory and/or Yashiro _would_ find out and they _would_ question her about it. The better option was what she ended up doing – cleaning Ren's apartment, doing his laundry, and cooking a fancy meal.

Kyoko had put on a rather sexy set of matching underwear – not that she thought she'd need it with how tired Ren was bound to be – because she wanted something back from him. Somehow his absence had made her grow bolder. While they'd had a few heavy petting sessions since he'd returned from America, they'd never gotten further. Now that he'd been gone, she'd wanted him in every way more than before.

The sound of a key in the door made her flinch. Suddenly she was more nervous about everything now that Ren was officially back.

"Hello?" Ren called, clued in that someone was home by the lights on and the smell of food in the air. Kyoko heard the door close behind him. "Kyoko?"

Kyoko couldn't help acting shy as she stepped out of the kitchen. She was fully dressed (for now), but the way Kuon looked at her was definitely terrifying. He was certainly happy to see her.

Kuon only gave her a quick peck on the lips before he grabbed her hand and led her to the kitchen. "You made all this?" He asked despite knowing the answer.

Before Kyoko could give him an embarrassed nod, he pulled her in to a passionate kiss.

Too soon, he let go. "I'm actually hungry right now, so why don't we eat?"

Kyoko, too dazed from the kiss to respond, wobbled away to begin serving him food. She was surprised to see him not only energetic, but so energetic that he was wolfing down whatever food she served him. Kyoko hardly had time to eat her own food while Kuon did his best Kuu impression.

"So how was Europe?" Kyoko asked him, hoping to slow Kuon down.

"Good. We managed to get a lot of work done," Kuon reported. "Although I wasn't able to audition for modeling jobs in Los Angeles due to my hair color, while I was in Europe I was asked to model for a couple of European and American magazines. It was nice, but it made my schedule a lot more full than intended."

"Did you ever hear back about that role in America?" Ren had managed to do one audition for a TV show – just a small bit role. They didn't notice he was wearing a wig due to the fast pace of the auditions.

"No. Lory heard through the grapevine that they thought I wouldn't agree to such a small role," he sighed. "And they wanted someone they knew would be easy to schedule, that is, based in America."

"That's too bad."

Kuon shrugged. "Hollywood doesn't like casting outsiders, and that includes most foreigners not from Europe no matter how famous they are. So I got further than I expected."

"Do you think you're going to continue auditioning?" Kyoko asked him.

"Not immediately," Ren replied. "I might have more luck after our film is released. If I can latch onto any initial positive reception, I may get a few small roles."

"That soon?"

"Yeah, but I don't expect anything even with the boost of the film premier. Then again, Hollywood latches onto certain people, so if I'm one of those people it will help."

"Latches on?"

"Sometimes there's an actor or actress that a director or producers find themselves liking. They'll try hard to find a part for that actor or actress in their newest movies."

"Does it last though? The demand?"

Kuon shrugged. "It depends. If the actor continues to be good and the producers keep having roles that suit him. Sometimes the actor is only good in the role that got him famous, and once they realize that, they stop caring."

"I'm sure you'll be fine then," Kyoko encouraged him.

"I'm suspecting it'll be you they latch on to," Kuon said. He put down his utensils next to the empty plate in front of him and reached out to lift her chin with one hand. She watched as he carefully examined it.

"Is something wrong?" Kyoko asked. She tried to read his face, but it had turned blank. Then, suddenly, he kissed her once more. Just as suddenly, he pulled away.

"I missed you," Kuon whispered into Kyoko's ear. He got up from his chair to move behind her own and hugged her. His head sat on her shoulder.

"W- would you like a bath?" Kyoko asked him.

"Will you be joining?" Kuon asked.

Although nervous, Kyoko admitted she would have rather had Kuon undress her the traditional way so that he could see her lingerie. Still, she probably needed a bath as much as he did. Kyoko nodded.

Before Kyoko had gotten up, Ren picked her up out of the chair and began to carry her to his room.

"I need to clean the dishes," Kyoko protested.

"Why don't you heat up the bath while I do that?" Kuon offered. He set her on the floor and walked back to the kitchen, leaving Kyoko to her nerves and embarrassment. She filled the bath with hot water and set out towels. From the kitchen, she heard the clinking of dishes. Suddenly the noise stopped, and before she knew it Ren was behind her.

"Did you really wash the dishes that fast?" Kyoko asked him, not turning around to look.

"I do have a dishwasher," Kuon pointed out. "You just never use it."

"I've never used one before," Kyoko admitted.

"I'll show you next time," Kuon told her. Kyoko heard his clothes rustle as he began to take them off and throw them into his laundry hamper. Shyly, Kyoko began to take her clothes off. Kuon was already in the bath before she began to take off her lingerie. Kyoko was a bit disgusted that he didn't spend much time cleaning off before getting into the tub, but figured it was due to his Western upbringing.

Kyoko was surprised that she waited until Kuon was watching until she began to strip off the lingerie. Being naked was comfortable, but something so inherently sexual as stripping off lingerie in front her presumed boyfriend was still a strange experience. It was stranger that he didn't say anything, even if the look on his face told her exactly what he was thinking – and it was exactly what she wanted him to think.

Kuon was feeling impatient. Kyoko was obviously trying to seduce him – not that he minded – but she was removing her clothing way too slow. As soon as her panties were dropped into the hamper, he stood up and reached out to pull her into the bath. He wouldn't wait for her to rinse off. The cute yelp she made in surprise was a bonus. To prevent her from being intimidated by his growing erection, he placed her in the bath so that she was snuggled up next to his side.

They sat next to each other for some time before either one decided to move. Kyoko lifted one hand and placed it on his chest as she rolled to her side so that her breasts were pressed against his side.

"Do you really want this?" Kuon asked.

Kyoko nodded against his shoulder. "Was earlier not enough of a direct message?"

"No – it's just," Kuon paused, worrying Kyoko. She wasn't used to hearing him stutter or pause. She worried that he didn't love or want her despite his reassurances. "I don't know. I'm just so worried that I'll make the wrong move on my end. Even though you asked me like I asked you to, I still feel like I'll end up hurting you. In the past, sex was always just a fun diversion from me, so I don't know how to do it right with someone I actually love."

Kyoko looked up at him, concerned. "Is there anything I can do?" Honestly, she still wasn't sure she was ready for this, but she knew it was what she wanted. If it was Ren or Kuon, she wouldn't regret it even if it may be a case of her teenage hormones pushing her to do something she wouldn't do otherwise.

Kuon's arm tightened around her protectively. He didn't say anything.

"I guess… I figured that after Sho I would never want to do this with anyone, and that I'd happily die a virgin," Kyoko began to explain. "But then I met you, and some of the damage he did to my idea of love began to heal. And then last year, when I admitted to myself that I loved you, I decided that I might want to experience love again. Over the year, that desire grew, but I still wasn't comfortable confronting you with it. When we prepared for the movie, and then we went on dates, I became comfortable accepting your love."

"But why this? Aren't you worried it's a bit too soon?" Kuon asked her.

Kyoko shook her head. "With what we did to prepare for the movie, and then after the wrap party, I realized I still wanted more," Kyoko paused as she looked down to hide her blush. "And, it felt right."

"Right?"

"It felt good, and it felt like no one else could make it feel that good," Kyoko clarified for him.

His arms pulled her up to kiss him. "Thank you," Kuon said. He kissed her again, this time more passionately. Kuon released her and stood up, going to grab a towel from the closet. Before Kyoko followed him, Kuon grabbed her a towel to use.

Kyoko grabbed the towel from him and looked at it, confused. She had always assumed that in situations like this you would go straight to the bed.

"Sex on a wet bed, or with wet skin, is really uncomfortable," Kuon informed her. "We can try it another time if you want, but not tonight."

Kyoko blushed, reassured that he already wanted a second time before the first one would happen. She was careful to dry off before heading to the bedroom. He was sitting on the side of the bed waiting for her, so she leaned down to kiss his lips. Kuon pulled her onto the bed so that she was lying on top of him. She felt his erection. Despite the sudden pang of nerves caused by the reminder of what she had proposed for the night, Kyoko found herself leaning into him more.

Kuon rolled her over, moving to kiss down her neck. He wanted to spend plenty of time on foreplay to ensure she was ready, so he went slowly. One hand drifted down her back to grab at her butt while the other gently massaged her neck. So far, Kyoko seemed too nervous to move, but he let her earlier assurances keep him going. Finally, she moaned, encouraging more action. One hand moved to grab at his back while her other hand was moving down her torso. Kuon groaned as he felt her hand tentatively touch his erection.

"You don't have to do that," Kuon said. He moved his mouth up to kiss her.

"Even if I want to?" Kyoko asked, worried she'd made a mistake.

"If you want to, go ahead," he replied before giving her another searing kiss. The hand on her butt moved between her legs to begin rubbing her labia. She moaned again and adjusted her hips for maximum contact with his hand. Her hand also began to tighten on his erection. She began to rub it, causing him to groan against her lips. He pulled away from her lips. "Can you stop that?"

Kyoko's face looked horrified below him, and her hand stopped moving.

"You didn't hurt me," He rubbed his nose against her own. He tried not to be embarrassed as he told her what was really happening. "I'm out of practice, so my stamina's gone down."

Kyoko cocked her head in confusion.

"I meant, if you kept going, I wouldn't be able to last long enough for what you want," Kuon admitted.

Kyoko giggled. "We'll have to practice a lot then." She was surprised she said something so bold, but their activities had gotten to her brain to the extent that she wasn't ashamed to say it.

"Of course," Ren said. He gave her a truly dangerous look before moving his lips down her torso. He continued to rub her labia, and feeling the wetness stuck one finger in. Kyoko twitched in response, but she assured him it was okay, so he added a second finger and then a third. When the third one went in, Kyoko winced and let out a small yelp. He pulled his fingers out, hoping he didn't hurt her.

"It's okay," Kyoko tried to assure him.

"Are you sure you want to keep going?" He had never had sex with a virgin before, so he was entirely unsure if fingering would actually help, but he figured that if that hurt, the actual act would be worse. Honestly, he was probably more nervous than Kyoko herself.

"Yes," Kyoko said softly. He didn't look up to see her expression, but tentatively but his fingers back into her. He wasn't going to use his mouth – he knew that would be a bit shocking to her – so instead he kissed around her hips and used his other hand to stimulate her clit. He could feel it was working to relax her.

Once he assumed she was ready, Kuon pulled both hands away so he could hug her. His lips moved to kiss her own, but this time it was chaste. "Are you sure you want this tonight?"

"Yes," Kyoko replied. This time it was much louder and more definite. To make sure he got her message, she pulled him into another kiss. Somehow, even though they'd gotten this far, she was still worried he would stop. This time, though, it wouldn't be because he didn't love her, but rather because he was too unwilling to trust that he couldn't hurt her. That reassured her – he would stop because he loved her too much. She was confused to see him crawl away from her until she saw him reaching into a drawer to grab a condom. He tore open the packet and put it on before crawling back to her.

"One last time, are you sure?"

"Yes," she replied for the third time. "Are you?" She wanted to make sure he was ready – she finally grasped that he might not be.

Kuon nodded and began to move towards her. Kyoko was surprised to see him grab a pillow instead of inserting himself into her. He put the pillow under her hips, elevating them off the bed. Slowly, he entered her. As he did, he could hear her sigh in an attempt to adjust. When he was all the way in, he kissed her to reassure her that she was okay.

"Is it okay?" He asked, wanting to know if he could move.

"Just a few more seconds," Kyoko said as she adjusted her hips on the pillow. Even the small move caused him to groan. "It's okay now." With that, he started to move.

Kuon was surprised how long he was able to last when he finally did finish, even if it was a lot shorter than he had in his teenage years. He kissed her before pulling out and quickly moved to throw the condom away, despite her moan at the loss of his touch. He moved back to the bed. "Does it hurt at all?" He didn't see any blood leaking, but his sheets were dark.

"I'm a little sore, but that's expected," Kyoko sighed with a small smile. "I was told it would hurt more, so I'm happy it didn't."

Kuon smiled back at her and gave her a peck on the lips. He walked away to get clean sheets to place on the bed. "Kyoko, you should go to the bathroom."

"Why?" Kyoko wasn't too sore, but rather too relaxed to move.

"I don't know why, but I've always heard that girls need to pee after sex. Somehow it can make you sick if you don't do it. I never bothered to learn how. Most guys do it too, but I'll wait until you're done," Kuon told her. He heard her groan as she got out of bed. As soon as she had closed the bathroom door, he began to get to work on the sheets.

Inside the bathroom, Kyoko tried to think of why she would need to get out of bed other than to let the sheets be changed. Then she remembered the girls in her class discussing the possibility of UTIs, and she was happy that Kuon reminded her to do so. Kyoko grabbed her robe off the hook before returning to the bedroom to look for pajamas. According to the movies, she should sleep naked after sex, but she was never one to do that. Instead, she took a page out of the other movies and stole one of Ren's shirts. Silently, she took over making the bed to give Kuon a turn in the bathroom.

With the bed changed and both parties in pajamas, the couple cuddled up in bed.

"Do you regret it?" Kuon asked, still concerned that he hadn't done the right thing.

"No," Kyoko told him. "Not at all."

"That's good," Kuon sighed in relief. "Do you think you'll want to do that again?"

"Are you crazy?" Kyoko asked. Kuon worried that she was saying that in a bad way. Quietly, she added, "Of course I want to." She snuggled deeper into his chest in embarrassment.

Kuon laughed in relief. "As do I."

"Maybe not tomorrow, though," Kyoko said into his chest. "I'm way too sore."

Kuon rubbed his hands down her back. "Soon?"

"Soon," Kyoko assured him.

They lay in each other's arms until they fell asleep.

* * *

Kyoko was worried when she didn't find Kuon in bed the next morning, but the sound of a shower told her where he was. She forgot that he needed to have his hair dyed back that morning, and before Jelly could meet with him. He was probably doing a temporary dye job on his own.

She got up on legs that were much more sore than she anticipated and moved to the kitchen to cook breakfast. Kyoko was so into her breakfast preparation that she hadn't heard Ren calling her name until he was standing right behind her at the stove.

"Good morning," he greeted her.

"Breakfast's almost ready," Kyoko told him. She didn't need to turn around to feel that he was still in a towel. "Why don't you get dressed in the mean time?"

"A real slave driver," he joked to himself – he knew it would go over her head culturally. He left to get dressed, and was greeted by a plate at the table when he returned.

"Did you sleep well?" Kyoko asked him, wondering what one was supposed to say the morning after to their new lover.

"Better than ever," he replied as he began to sip his soup. "Did you? Are you still sore?"

"I slept well. I'm not too sore," Kyoko insisted. Her wobbling legs told him otherwise, so he went to his rarely-used medicine cabinet and got her something for the pain.

"Here. I want to make sure you're comfortable," he insisted.

"I'll be okay," Kyoko assured him.

"Please?" He asked her, putting a pathetic expression on his face.

Kyoko realized that this was all part of his concern about hurting her, so she took the pill from him and swallowed it.

"Thank you," he said.

"Where did you get the condoms?" Kyoko asked him. She was wondering why he would have such a thing if he was too nervous to want sex with her until she forced his hand and he hadn't had sex since living in that apartment.

His eyebrows rose and a blush spread across his cheeks. "My mom brought them."

"What?" Kyoko asked, not believing what she had heard.

"Julie brought them for me," Kuon reiterated.

"Why?"

"She didn't think we'd use them, but she wanted to make sure I had them just in case," Kuon said.

Kyoko blushed. "She knew."

"She knew? Well, she knew we were dating," Kuon admitted.

"No – she knew this was inevitable," Kyoko said. "And that it would happen soon."

"Why do you say that?"

"At the Grateful Party, she said something," Kyoko said. "She thought I would touch you more as our… practice… progressed."

"She gave me the condoms that morning," He said, surprised.

Kyoko blushed.

"Well, I would thank her, if she wasn't my mom," Kuon said. "But I'm glad she forced the issue."

"Forced the issue?"

"Why do you think she gave you that 'advice' for practice? It was helpful, sure, but she has her own motivations," Kuon told Kyoko.

Kyoko stared at him blankly.

"Somehow, she knew we loved each other, but would never tell each other. She wanted us to be happy, and she wanted to make it happen," Kuon explained.

It made too much sense, now that Kuon explained it. She felt hurt that Julie had deceived her, but admitted it was necessary. They wouldn't have gotten together otherwise, and now that they were together she was certainly happy.

"Can we not tell her this happened?" Kuon asked.

"But won't she know?"

"As long as she doesn't get into my apartment, we'll be fine," Kuon replied.

"She'll still know," Kyoko insisted.

"She knows we're dating, but this, he gestured towards his bedroom, she doesn't have to know."

* * *

 **A/N:** I'll end it there. I was so writer's blocked about this chapter and then I started typing and suddenly it's about 4000 words so we're done here.


	19. The Festival

**Try Me**

 **A/N:** Now it's time for the film festival. More writer's block slowed this one down. That tends to happen when I get ideas for other stories. (Unfortunately for you guys it's not a Skip Beat one)

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Skip Beat

* * *

 **The Festival**

When Kyoko woke up she rolled over. She instinctively reached out to the other side of the bed for a warm body, but didn't find one. Orienting herself to the situation, she remembered that she was now in Toronto, and Kuon wasn't there with her. The person in the other queen bed in the room was, surprisingly enough, her mother. They'd tried to get her a separate room, but the hotels were all booked solid.

Not wanting to wake her mother, Kyoko quietly got out of bed. They'd arrived two days prior, but the day before was spent exploring Toronto, so Kyoko figured it would be best to seek out breakfast herself. She couldn't wear the expense outfit procured for her interviews later in the day, lest she draw attention to herself, so she slipped into the casual clothes she'd worn the day before.

By the time she got back, her mother was up and getting ready. Kyoko was surprised to see that she was wearing a trendy dress instead of a business suit.

"Good morning," Saena greeted her daughter. "I was wondering where you were."

"I got you some coffee and some food. Breakfast is important, Mom," Kyoko said. Over the duration of their trip, including a week-long New York vacation, Kyoko had become more used to nagging her mother about her health. She had quickly found out that her mother was like Ren – such a hard worker that she often ignored her own health. Saena grumbled about it, but held back any verbal reaction for Kyoko's sake.

"Did you get anything for yourself?" Saena asked.

"Only some hard-boiled eggs," Kyoko admitted.

"I didn't know you liked them. Did Kuon introduce them to you?" Saena asked, too absorbed in her make-up to realize her verbal slip.

"Kuon?" Kyoko asked, whipping her head around to look at her mother.

Saena wondered if Ren had lied and hadn't really told Kyoko his real identity. "Hizuri Kuon," Saena said.

"H- how do you know?" Kyoko asked.

"That you're dating him?" Saena asked. Her more cruel nature was coming out once again, although she worked to suppress it. "He didn't tell you that he told me?"

Kyoko shook her head. "He probably figured I'd told you, or that Julie had. B- but how do you know?" She was perplexed.

"Back when you first started dating, he told me he wanted to keep your relationship status transparent with me. I think he thinks it will help me approve of him." Saena did not say if it did help. "One of the things he chose to disclose was his real identity. In fact, he went to me when he needed help with his visa. It's not my specialty, but I helped with what I could."

"I had no idea," Kyoko admitted.

"Like I said, he thought you were telling me this. I'm disappointed you didn't," Saena reprimanded her daughter.

A couple years before, Kyoko knew she would have cried and ran, but now that she'd matured she knew her mother was right. If she wanted her mother to approve of Ren, it would be appropriate to talk to her about it. She didn't need to share every detail, just that they were an item. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I figured…"

"That I'd be mad? Or disappointed?" Saena turned to her daughter. "I would have been if Kuon wasn't making such an effort to suck up to me for your sake. He really loves you, which makes me more comfortable with the situation. Though, I still am watching closely to ensure his motivations or attitude don't change. Not that I think they will. If they do, Julie is sure to have his head."

Kyoko was surprised to hear her mother so protective, but considering her mother's history with men it made sense. "You've been talking to Julie?" Kyoko asked. Now that Saena was back into her life, she didn't dare call Julie "Mom" in front of her.

"Yes. Kuon gave me her phone number. We keep in contact," Saena answered. "In fact, we're meeting for lunch today while you're working."

"Really?"

"We have more in common than we thought," Saena said cryptically. Kyoko saw no similarities, but she wouldn't question her mother (or Julie) about it.

"I'm sure it will be nice," Kyoko responded.

Saena turned back to Kyoko. "If she doesn't take me shopping." Kyoko found herself laughing in sympathy for her mother, and to her surprise, Saena joined in.

* * *

Kyoko was greeted by Director Ueda in the lobby. After a polite greeting, he introduced her to one of the film festival volunteers who would be taking her to the only solo interview she'd been scheduled for. That evening, there would be a couple more interviews with the more distinguished cast (meaning she would be given only a few short questions), and then the next evening the film would premiere.

She was led to a fancy meeting room in a neighboring hotel, where she was greeted by a middle-aged reporter and a Japanese woman wearing a badge identifying her as a translator.

"Please sit, Mogami-san," the translator said. "It's very nice to meet you."

Kyoko bowed to greet her. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Kyoko Mogami."

The reporter held her hand out, which Kyoko knew to shake. "Nice to meet you, I'm Robert Smith. I'm a reporter for Atlantic. We're writing a feature about this movie, and in particular your involvement."

"Really?" Kyoko asked before the translator had time to translate the statement to Japanese.

"You speak English?" The reporter asked, clearly surprised.

"Yes, Mr. Smith," Kyoko replied politely.

"You must be more interesting that I've been told, then," the reporter laughed.

"I'm not," Kyoko assured him.

"Well, why don't we get started? I'm on a busy schedule," Mr. Smith told her.

Kyoko nodded.

"We'll start off with an easy question. How did you get involved in this project? What drew you to it?"

Kyoko blushed, causing the reporter to wonder what was up. "There was another part I as playing at the time in a project led by a friend of Director Ueda's. That part made him recommend me to Director Ueda for this role. I didn't even know what the project was, but I agreed because I didn't want to let the director who recommended me down."

"So you didn't even know you'd have to do anything risqué?"

Kyoko shook her head. "No! Not at all. I was so nervous when I found out."

"You must have been nervous. You're very young for a role like that. If I recall, you were only seventeen when cast?"

Kyoko nodded. "I was nervous, so I sought out a lot of advice. Julie Hizuri was really helpful in advising me."

"I've heard that you're close with her and Kuu. What's that like?"

"They're always willing to help me because they think of me as their daughter. It's nice to have people to call who are so willing to help. Since there's rarely such risqué scenes in Japanese movies, I couldn't ask anyone I knew there," Kyoko explained.

"It's said that you're very good friends with your love interest, Ren Tsuruga. Was he able to help you at all?"

"Yes. Because I was so nervous, it was useful to act against someone I know so well," Kyoko said. "It's easier to have someone that you trust, especially when he says he's as nervous as you are."

"Did you talk to him at all about the film before you shot it?"

Kyoko nodded once more. "A lot of our costars are much older, so it was easiest to talk about the subject matter of the film with someone who was closer to my age."

"You're actually younger than your character, aren't you? Do you know any women in a similar situation to her?"

"I don't know anyone who recently got a job at a company, but I am close to someone who faced sexism in the Japanese workforce. I used her situation as inspiration," Kyoko explained.

"So you think it's a problem?"

"Yes, I do. But I don't know what I'd do about it," she said.

"Don't you think your performance in the movie will help raise awareness of the issue?"

"I don't know," Kyoko responded. "I hope so. It's something that needs fixing. So many young women in Japan, including me, have dreams of success. I don't want any women to face the issues my character or countless other Japanese women have faced."

"Have you faced any sexism in the industry so far?"

"Yes," Kyoko admitted. "But my agency and mentors are good, so they protect me from the worst of it. There are friends and coworkers I have that face much worse."

"How so?"

"There are some agencies where young girls do have to do inappropriate things to get ahead, or where girls are expected to go on fake dates with fans," Kyoko said. "Boys don't face those same expectations."

"Even though you don't have to do that, I've heard from early viewings that there is controversy in your film. Your male counterpart is never naked, but you are," the interviewer suggests. "What do you have to say to that?"

Kyoko paused, trying to figure out what to say. "It is unfair on the surface," Kyoko replied. She would lie through her teeth, both to absolve Ren of any suspicion and to make the film seem more like an award-worthy scathing criticism. "But it was a conscious decision to do it that way. We felt it would go along with the tone of the film, with the female character being left more vulnerable like that."

"So it was the choice of the actors?"

"Yes, although Director Ueda did approve of it," Kyoko told him.

"That's a smart choice," the interviewer said off the record. "And certainly a choice I wouldn't expect such a new actress to make."

Kyoko blushed and thanked him.

"I think I have enough material," Mr. Smith told Kyoko. He gestured over to a photography set up crammed into a corner of the meeting room. "I believe they want to take a few pictures of you for the article."

"Didn't they already take pictures?" Kyoko asked.

This time the translator stepped in. "While in Japan the pictures are of you being interviewed, in the West they like to do photoshoots."

Kyoko nodded. "I'm not wearing anything worth taking a picture in, though. If I'd had known…"

"Don't worry, there should be a stylist coming in soon for you. Since you only had a short timeframe to do the interview, she should be here shortly," the translator added.

Kyoko nodded politely, but was not sure she knew what she was in for.

* * *

Upon arrival back to her hotel room, Kyoko face-planted onto the bed. She had no desire to spend time removing her make-up or putting pajamas on. Kyoko had truly underestimated how busy she'd be. The photos involved not one, but two outfits: one angelic and girly, and one darker and sexy. Then, in the group interviews, she fielded a lot more questions than she had expected. If it was because she spoke English far better than the rest of the cast or because she was the lead character, she didn't know. All she knew was that spending all that mental energy on speaking eloquent English the entire day had worn her out.

Kyoko didn't look when she heard the door open, but turned her head when she heard a similar thump onto the neighboring bed. It was surprising to see her mother act as tired as she had. Even if her mother was tired, she expected her to attempt to maintain an image of professionalism.

"How was your afternoon?" Kyoko asked her mother.

"Good," Saena replied. Kyoko thought she could smell alcohol on her breath, but she knew her mother didn't drink – she was too scared of a spiked drink.

"What did you do with Julie?"

"She was trying to hook me up with this American lawyer friend of hers," Saena said. Kyoko heard her mother's voice slurring and wondered what Julie had roped her mother into. "But not before she got me to down a bottle of wine."

"I thought you didn't drink," Kyoko reminded her mother.

"I thought I didn't either," Saena admitted. "But Julie has reminded me how good wine is."

Kyoko wondered if that was one of the mysterious interests Saena claimed she and Julie shared. It made her wonder more about the rest. "What else did you do?"

"I don't know," her mother replied. "She took me shopping, but we didn't buy anything, and then we got wine. I think she tried to get me to pick out lingerie for you, but I was sober enough to refuse. Besides, Kuon's love is too innocent to like that on you. I doubt he's even laid a hand on you – he likes that you're cute and innocent."

Kyoko choked. She didn't know what was more wrong – hearing about her drunken mother and mother-in-law discussing Kuon's lingerie preferences or the fact that her mother was too drunk to be upset with her teenage daughter potentially having a sex life.

"But anyways I'll be at the premiere tomorrow," Saena slurred. "Don't worry." She fell asleep.

Kyoko just stared at her mother, wondering if alcohol made everyone crazy. If it was strong enough to make her mother that open and honest, she was scared to see what it did to her. She tried to call Kuon to see if he was awake, but his phone was off. After sending him a text about her day, she decided it was best to get cleaned up for bed and try to sleep.

* * *

The next morning, she found out why Kuon's phone had been off. As she walked into the holding room for her film's panel discussion with movie critics and the newsmedia. Because their film was foreign and therefore less important than American films, they were given a small room for the panel, and an even smaller room to wait in. Inside, she found the cast and crew that had travelled to Canada chuckling as they looked at the distinguished Tsuruga Ren, asleep on the couch.

Director Ueda walked over to see what was happening. "Ren's here? I thought he wasn't coming due to scheduling conflicts. Isn't that what you heard, Kyoko?"

"He was able to get today off, but not enough time on either end to travel to Canada," Kyoko confirmed. "So Takarada-san said he wouldn't be coming."

"He'll need to wake up soon anyways," Director Ueda said. He shook Ren's shoulder to wake him up. Ren groaned as he sat up.

"Tsuruga-san?" Kyoko asked.

"Good morning, Mogami-san," he greeted her sleepily. He yawned into his hand.

"I didn't think you'd make it," Director Ueda broke into your conversation.

Ren blinked a few times. "I managed to rearrange my schedule so I could make it today. My flight got in about two hours ago, so I'm still adjusting to the time zone. Unfortunately, I'll have to leave again right after the premiere tonight." Kyoko saw a small suitcase next to him, in which she assumed he had a more formal suit for the premiere and some more comfortable travel clothes.

"Why'd you even bother coming then?" Director Ueda asked him.

"I felt I should try to come to my first international film festival," Ren replied.

"Even if you're tired as hell?"

"Yes," Ren said.

Tired he was, Kyoko thought as she watched him yawn his way through the press conference. Afterwards he went to an undisclosed location to change into his suit while Kyoko went back to her hotel to prepare. Even when she met him on the red carpet, she caught him yawning.

Saena, Kyoko's "date" to the premiere, watched him with wary eyes. The hangover she had from the night before had made her more suspicious of everything.

"Good evening, Tsuruga-san," Saena greeted him. "I didn't realize you would be here."

"I didn't either. I told Takarada-san that I wanted to come support Kyoko and he managed to squeeze all of my work for the week into the last three days," Ren replied.

"You would be a good lawyer," Saena commented.

"Oh?" Ren cocked his head, a smile on his face.

"You make it seem easy to exploit Lory's weaknesses. From what Kyoko's told me, it isn't always that simple."

Ren's smile widened deviously. "I've known him long enough I would hope I could. Kyoko's far too nice to do this."

Kyoko turned away from a reporter that had pulled her to the side for a quick interview after hearing her name called. Ren walked over and began to banter with the reporter alongside Kyoko.

They walked down the rest of the red carpet together. While Kyoko was star-struck, Ren watched with amusement. They wouldn't be stopped too much considering their complete lack of status or name recognition they had in Canada. The only ones stopping them were a small number of Japanese fans that had made the trip. All were hoping for signatures from the older, more respected Japanese stars and the director, but saw a signature from Kyoko and Ren as a bonus.

Ren knew his mother was behind them somewhere, getting stopped for pictures and autographs. Even though she'd started ahead of them, Julie had been stopped so many times that she was unable to move. It would have been worse if Kuu was available to attend.

Once inside and in their seats, Kyoko had a good chance to talk to him. She listened as he explained the hellish schedule that he'd endured to come, and the schedule he'd have upon their return to Japan. When he explained where he'd been forced to change – his mother's hotel room – Kyoko tried not to laugh. She could only imagine how Julie fawned over him. Ren was lucky if he was allowed to tie his own tie.

To Kyoko's surprise, Julie came to sit next to Saena. She brought full wine glasses for both of them, but not one for Ren. The other stars of the movie trickled in and the movie started. During the movie, Kyoko felt Ren's hand stroking her leg, eager for contact. She knew they wouldn't have any contact until she was back in Japan – he had made it clear he was leaving for the airport right from the premiere – so she leaned into it.

When the risqué scenes started, Kyoko first made a horrified expression, realizing what her mother would be watching, and then buried her head into Ren's lap in embarrassment. She didn't want to see the disapproving look on her mother's face, or the satisfied smile on Julie's for that matter.

After the film finished, the audience applauded loudly. Kyoko wondered if she should get up and bow, but Julie prompted her to remain seating while Director Ueda stood to take the applause.

Saena hugged her daughter. "That was a wonderful performance, Kyoko."

Ren poked Kyoko's side to get her attention. "My flight tonight was cancelled due to weather. I've been bumped to your flight tomorrow."

Kyoko turned to him. "Do you have somewhere to stay?"

"He can always stay with me," Julie suggested. Kyoko assumed it was a joke – there was no connection between her and Ren, so sharing a hotel room would cause a scandal. Not to mention Julie was a lot more likely to be followed by the paparazzi than Kyoko and her mother.

"It would be better if he stayed with Kyoko and I," Saena said begrudgingly. "He wouldn't have to wake you up for the flight."

"You're too smart for me, Saena," Julie replied.

Saena huffed, clearly annoyed that Julie had pushed her into this.

Kyoko and Ren were swarmed with critics and castmates congratulating them on a job well done. At least one American director approached Kyoko to ask her if she would be interested in auditioning for a role in his latest project, while another asked Ren a similar question.

By the time they had managed to get back to the hotel room, Saena was ready for bed and expected them to be in bed as soon as possible. There would be no kissing or touching tonight; neither wanted to get Saena any more annoyed than she was. They quickly took turns in the shower before changing into pajamas (or, in Ren's case, a pair of sweat pants he'd brought for the plane ride) and hurried under the covers of Kyoko's bed. After Saena had turned out the lights, they snuck in a quick kiss before collapsing into sleep themselves.

* * *

 **Bonus**

Saena sat in the swanky shopping district enjoying a glass of wine with Julie. Their communication was hampered by gaps in her English (and Julie's in Japanese), but they managed to get along well enough. They had found mutual interests in women's rights, business, and wine to talk about. Today, since they were meeting in person, Saena was forced to adhere to Julie's whims. That meant shopping.

"Say, what kind of lingerie does Kyoko like?" Julie asked Saena.

"Lingerie?" Saena asked her, not sure if the English word meant what she thought it meant.

"Like," Julie paused, trying to think of a good way to explain it to Saena. "Sexy underwear."

"How would I know that?" Saena asked. "Why would Kyoko even need that?"

"Oh, I don't know," Julie said suggestively. "Maybe she's just a young attractive woman with a very attractive boyfriend."

"Kyoko's well behaved," Saena protested calmly. "She wouldn't do anything irresponsible."

"Oh? Even if she was forced to get close to him?"

Saena raised an eyebrow.

"Kyoko didn't tell you?" Julie didn't know if she was surprised or not.

"Tell me what," Saena questioned her.

"She has a sex scene with him in the movie."

Saena's eyes widened, and she inadvertently downed the rest of her wine glass. "Really?"

"Kyoko felt she couldn't turn down such a prestigious opportunity," Julie explained. "Even if she was wary of that part of the role."

Saena considered this. "Well, since we're here, it appears it was a good choice of a role. Few actresses get prestigious opportunities this young."

Julie nodded. "And she's handled it very well. I'd say it brought her and Ren closer."

"But having sex?"

"It's not too far removed from a sex scene to the actual act. Besides, I bought them condoms just in case," Julie assured Saena.

"Kyoko won't need them, nor will she need lingerie," Saena insisted. The alcohol was getting to her, which made her more open to the idea of her daughter having sex. "Your son is too much of a wimp to do anything."

"No, he isn't," Julie said. "Would you like to bet on it?"

"No," Saena said. She didn't want to admit Julie was right, even though Julie was probably right.

"Well, anyways, next time Kyoko makes you brunch at Ren's place, slip off and check for me, will you?"

Saena considered Julie's suggestion. The part of her that was still sober had no interest in it, but the alcohol made her curious. "How?"

"The drawer in the nightstand. That's where the condoms are," Julie winked.

Saena managed to form a devious smile. "And you want the answer?"

"You think I don't?"

"Of course," Saena said.

"And if I win?"

"I'll go lingerie shopping."

"If you win?"

"You pay for the wedding," Saena said.

"Either way, I win," Julie laughed. She used her glass to give another toast to Saena and downed it quickly. Once more, Saena was reminded how dangerous Julie really was. Honestly, that was why they got along so well.

* * *

 **A/N:** Just the epilogue left!


	20. Epilogue

**Try Me**

 **A/N:** Yay! It's the epilogue.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Skip Beat

* * *

 **Epilogue**

Kyoko rolled over onto Kuon so that she could kiss him. He was still asleep in bed, and trying desperately to stay that way. The night before they had ended up making love well into the morning hours, so neither had gotten much sleep. Still, Kyoko knew they had to get up – her mother was coming over to pick them up for a New Year's shrine visit.

"Kuonnnn," she half-groaned half-giggled as he wrapped an arm around her.

"Kyoko, can't we stay in bed today? You know I don't do Japanese New Year's," Kuon groaned right back at her. One of his hands moved to play in between her legs. That prompted Kyoko to fight her way out of bed to make herself presentable.

"You do remember my mom's coming, right?"

That caused Kuon to bolt upright in bed. "Shit. How long?"

"About twenty minutes," Kyoko replied as she rushed to make herself presentable. Kuon ran to the bathroom and took up the space in the mirror right next to her, trying desperately to get ready.

Exactly twenty minutes later when Saena knocked on the door, the young couple was somehow prepared to greet her. There was just one thing they had neglected to tell her.

"What's that ring doing on your finger, Kyoko?" Saena questioned her daughter. Both Kyoko and Kuon shuddered at her stern gaze.

"It's a promise ring," Kuon replied as smoothly as he possibly could.

Kyoko looked up at him. Kuon had proposed the night before, so she had no idea why he was lying now.

"Good. Would you mind if I used the restroom before we go?" Saena asked.

"Take your time," Kuon told her. He led Kyoko over to the couch where they sat down.

"Promise ring?" Kyoko asked him quietly.

"Your mom said I wasn't allowed to propose until your coming of age ceremony. That happens in late January, right?" Kuon asked.

Kyoko nodded.

"But I wanted to propose anyway, so I did," Kuon said. "I forgot to tell you to take it off before she noticed."

Kyoko kissed him. "Don't worry. I'm sure she already knows you were lying." She stood up to grab her purse. "But I'll be careful not to wear it in public."

"Mom?" Kyoko called. "If we don't leave we'll be late."

Saena appeared from the hallway, looking rather annoyed for some reason. Kyoko hoped she was just tired, not mad about her engagement. It was certainly possible: she knew her mother had been hooking up with the American lawyer Julie had suggested to her, and that the lawyer in question was in town for New Year's.

The annoyance let up before they had even reached her car. "Congratulations, you two," Saena told them.

"You're not mad?" Kyoko asked.

"About what?"

"I wasn't supposed to propose for another month," Kuon said.

"I knew there was no way you would wait that long," Saena admitted. "Considering you bought the ring over a year ago."

Ren straightened in his seat.

"I only asked that you wait so that you wouldn't propose right away. Although I know you love her, I wanted you to be dating for more than a year before taking such a serious step."

"Thank you," Ren whispered.

"Have you told your mother yet?"

"Not that I proposed, but she did go ring shopping with me," Ren told her.

"Well, maybe I'll tell her," Saena said. She was rather excited to find out something before Julie did for once. Neither of their children told either one anything, but somehow Julie's intuition about their relationship was much better than Saena's.

Kyoko hastily pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed Julie's number. She put the phone on speaker so that she and Ren could tell Julie the news.

"Happy New Year's," Julie and Kuu's voices came through the phone.

Kuon swore and Kyoko almost dropped the phone. Somehow, for the two years they'd been dating, they'd entirely left Kuu out of the loop. They debated letting him in, but after one silent look at each other, Kuon spoke. "Dad? Can we talk to Mom? Alone?"

"Is something wrong? Is Kyoko okay?"

"Yes, yes! Please just give the phone to Mom," Kuon said.

"Not until I know-"

They heard the sounds of a struggle before a beeping noise came over the phone. "Hello?" Julie asked. "What's up?"

"Mom," Kuon said slowly. "I proposed last night."

Kuon heard a noise, as if Julie was trying her hardest to keep down her excitement. "And what did Kyoko say?"

"I said yes," Kyoko replied.

This time Julie couldn't hold in her excitement, and a happy squeal came thorough the phone followed by Kuu's concerned voice. Before he could question them through the phone, Kuon hung up.

"Shit," Kuon said. "He knows. He totally knows."

Kyoko dropped her head onto his shoulder. "Isn't that what we said when Julie found out?"

Kuon didn't answer.

"That turned out well enough," Kyoko said, kissing him. His hand grabbed the back of her head to pull it back against his shoulder. Kuon couldn't disagree with her.

* * *

 **Bonus Epilogue**

In the bathroom, Saena thought about her bet with Julie. It had been over a year, and she had still not looked for evidence to settle the bet. She didn't think she wanted to think about the bet sober. Yet today, she was confronted with the sight of no fewer than three used condoms in the bathroom trash bin. At least they were being smart about it, she sighed. And even if they weren't, at least they were engaged.

Now she would have to decide how long to hide this from Julie. She could use it to her advantage, certainly, but she felt she owed her friend some news. Saena grabbed her phone out of her purse and typed a text to her friend: _You were right._

Faster than anticipated, Julie replied: _About what?_

 _Kuon and Kyoko,_ Saena typed.

 _What about them?_ Saena wondered if Julie had forgotten about the bet, and then another text came. _Oh, that! Did you check today?_

Saena wondered if she should send a picture to Julie, not as definitive evidence, but so Julie would have to see the same repulsive (well, repulsive to one of the involved parties' mother) sight she had. _Yes. They were busy last night._

 _Good they're being safe about it,_ Julie sent back.

 _Yes,_ Saena replied, hoping that would end the conversation.

 _Now when are we going to shopping? I can do next week. Should I buy the ticket to Japan or are you coming here?_

Saena groaned. Of all parts of the bet to forget about, it was the worst part.

* * *

 **A/N:** I hope you enjoyed this fic! I had a fun time writing it and I hope you had a fun time reading it.


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